Rigby is 'In the Closet'
by Mr.GW
Summary: Rigby has always been secretly in love with his best friend, Mordecai, and would do anything for him. But when Mordecai and Margaret get closer, Rigby grows more jealous and yerns for him. Now, he fights with the fact on either telling Mordecai the truth of his secret love or never telling him. Will he lose it all? Also, does Mordecai have feelings for Rigby too? MxR/MxM
1. Chapter 1: Waking up

**Rigby has always been there for Mordecai. But deep down inside, Rigby has loved him all along and yet never has told Mordecai about it. Now, he fights with the fact on either telling Mordecai the truth and risking their friendship, or never telling him? Full of emotions and relationships, this story focuses on the perspectives and feelings of some of the characters and how they feel for one another. In the end, true love always wins, right?**

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><p>Rigby stared into his cup of cappuccino as he didn't pay attention to his surroundings. He imagined himself jumping into it, hoping the sudden hot, scolding liquid would wake him up. That's what he wanted to do; to wake up and to feel awake. But he kept dozing off from reality as he struggled with the thought of either carrying the weights of his eyelids up or succumb to the desire of falling to sleep. Mordecai held Rigby up, trying to help Rigby from his predicament.<p>

"Come on man! Wake UP! Gosh! We have a lot of work to do today and if you wanna see Rocketeers 3 then I expect you to stay awake. I bet Benson's not in the greatest of moods for some apparent reason and he'll probably have a huge list of chores for us to do. That gumball boss… *phish*… why are we bossed around by a gumball machine? ...*sighs*… Anyway, I brought you here to the Coffee Shop because… well, you know… so you can wake up."

The sleepy raccoon grumbled and held his head up with Mordecai's assistance. He moaned really loudly and used his hands to hold his eyes up. The blue jay looked at Rigby's feeble attempt and complained,

"Look at you. Your eyes look like they are carrying dumbbells. This is what you get for trying to complete 'Sumo-Wimps' all night and morning. Look, just drink your cappuccino. I don't want Margaret to see you like this… besides, I'm gonna see if we can make her come with us to the movie later!"

When Rigby heard this, he immediately woke up with his eyes wide open. Mordecai was shocked on how fast Rigby slammed the table with his fists. He was now fully awake.

"WHAT! But I thought it was just gonna be you and me going! Now if she says yes, then I'll just be a third wheel to the group again!"

"No! Not really Rigby. You can…" *Snaps* "You can bring Eileen with you! It's like adding an extra wheel to the group!"

Rigby grumbled to himself as he knew Mordecai was going for Margaret again. Mordecai was deeply in love with her. Like deeeeeply in love with her. Every time they met up, Mordecai would always blush and sometimes stuttered with his words. Rigby thought to himself,

_Why does he even try to get with her? She barely even realizes him much! He should just stop trying to impress her! Why can't he just try to hang out with me like he used to? Why can't he realize that there are better beings that care for him instead of the gorgeous yet fake Margaret? Why can't he realize…_

He stared at himself at the reflective window across the shop and froze. He stared deeply at himself and then slowly looked at Mordecai in the reflection. Mordecai was drinking his coffee. Rigby looked at the overall picture reflecting back at him.

_Me? _Rigby fought with his thoughts and bobbled his head. _GO AWAY Gay thoughts!_

Before he could respond to himself, Mordecai shoved him a little and pointed at Margaret who was coming near them.

"I'm gonna do it! I'm going to ask her to come with us! Wish me luck Rigs!"

"Oh yeah, you're gonna need it."

But Rigby wished that Mordecai would mess up. Or he wished that even Margaret would say no due to some other random thing. Even though he wanted Mordecai to be happy, it was difficult watching him try to get with a girl like Margaret. Rigby had to admit that she was really good-looking for an avian, but he knew that there was something fishy about her and he didn't like it. Not one bit. Besides, he wanted nobody to take his Mordecai away, especially not this bird.

Margaret walked up to their table and gave the receipt for the drinks. She appeared to be in no rush as there was nobody in the shop this morning. Rigby glared at her. He then shifted his face and started looking around, acting like she wasn't there. Mordecai stared at her and was in total awe. He stuttered a little but regained some of his courage.

"Hey Margaret! Have you heard about the new movie coming out today! You know… Stee… I mean Rocketeers 3!"

Margaret looked at Mordecai as she fumbled with her pen.

"Um… actually… no. I've been busy lately so I don't keep up with any of the new movies lately."

"Oh well, um… so ummm… Would you… um…"

Rigby watched with anticipation.

_Come on Mordecai! Mess up!_

"Would you… ummmmmm… want…w…w…"

Rigby turned around and smiled to himself trying to hold his excitement. If there's no Margaret tonight, then there would be just him and Mordecai at the movies, like good ol' times. He wanted to be Mordecai's emotional support if Margaret denied his request or if he couldn't pull the words out of his beak. Besides, it's been a while since they've actually hanged out at the movies. Suddenly, Rigby heard a familiar voice coming from the back of the coffee shop.

"Hey Margaret! Guess what tickets I have for tonight!"

Eileen, Margaret's best friend, came running up to the Margaret and the two boys and stood near the table. Usually, she was quite shy and quiet but the other three could tell that something was up with Eileen. Just by looking at her face, they could tell she had something exciting to say, which she doesn't do much. The female mole beamed and said,

"I got tickets to go see Rocketeers 3 tonight! You wanna come and see it Margaret?"

"Oh, Sure! Hey wait a minute! You two boys want to come and meet us there tonight around 8:25? We all have the same time apparently."

Eileen spoke out, "Yeah! Especially you Rigby!" She blushed at the thought of asking Rigby to the movies. She had a hidden crush for him and yet Rigby didn't even know about it.

Mordecai thought that this was a miracle. He felt extremely lucky since he felt like he was a total mess before Eileen came up. Mordecai uttered in a response.

"Sure… We can definitely come and watch the movie! Right Rigby!"

Rigby grumbled to himself at the thought of being so close to being the only one to hang out with Mordecai at the movies. Now he had to deal with Margaret and Eileen. Mordecai realized the delay of response he needed from Rigby and looked at him with a sorta pleading face towards the raccoon. Rigby sighed. He put up his macho attitude to hide his feelings to the situation.

"Yeah we'll check you girls out later."

Eileen giggled and walked off. Mordecai looked at the time. It was around 9:20 and he realized that he and Rigby needed to be back at the park pretty soon to avoid Benson's yelling.

_It's hard to keep a strict gumball machine happy when he is never impressed with how the park looks_, Mordecai thought. So he, without thinking, started gulping down his scolding, hot coffee. His eyes then became watery as he spitted out some of the coffee on the table. Margaret heard Mordecai's coughs and rushed over to help him. She dropped her pen on the table that Rigby was on. Rigby saw it but paid no attention to it.

Actually, he was not paying attention to what was going on around him. He didn't even notice Mordecai gagging from the coffee. Instead, Rigby was into his deep thoughts again. He stared at his reflection and at Mordecai's on the window. During Mordecai's mishap of chugging hot coffee, he saw Margaret pull Mordecai off his seat. She then brought him to the kitchen in the back to get him some water. When she did this, Rigby couldn't see Mordecai's reflection on the window anymore. Rigby only saw himself in the reflection.

Alone.

He felt as if Margaret had stripped his best friend and love interest from him. Rigby felt angry and enraged deep inside and he gritted his teeth. He looked at the pen on the table and grabbed it. He started scratching on the table as he was trying to push all his anger out on the pen. He then focused on making something on the table; something that he wanted express to the whole world. He did this pretty fast as Margaret and Mordecai didn't realize what he was doing. They were too busy dealing with the coffee mishap. Rigby suddenly stopped from his spasm and realized what he was doing to the table. He scuffled up his napkin and hid his jagged marks on the table. He then heard Mordecai and Margaret coming from the kitchen. He then saw that Mordecai had left a huge coffee mess all over the table and floor. Rigby pulled his napkin up one more time and covered his pen marks on the table, hoping no one saw it.

Getting over his silly mishap, Mordecai felt so embarrassed in front of Margaret and helped cleaned up the mess he made. He asked Rigby to help because they had to hurry back to the park. So they rushed, paid an extra tip, and ran out the door. A couple of minutes passed and Margaret was in the kitchen making some bread. She realized that she left her pen somewhere in the shop. She shouted for Eileen to go find it since she was busy making the bread. Eileen humbly accepted the task. She looked all over the place. She finally found the pen on the same table that Mordecai and Rigby were on. She picked the pen up and realized the pen was messed up on the tip. Eileen knew that Margaret would have never treated the pen like this. She glanced down and found a napkin that was left alone on the table.

"Oh my. Guess they forgot to pick up their napkins."

When she picked it up, she noticed that there was some sort of message written underneath it.

"Hey Eileen! Did you find my pen yet?"

Eileen froze after looking at the message on the table.

"Ugh… yeah! I'll bring it to you!"

Eileen glance back down and examined the message.

It was a 'M + R' phrase surrounded by a heart.

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><p><strong>Please leave a comment on how I did with this so far! I plan on writing more to this story and I would love to get some feedback and support! I'm all ears… or eyes since I'll be reading the comments. THANKS!<strong>

**Regular Show characters belong to J. G. Quintel and Cartoon Network.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Heat of it All

Chapter 2

Mordecai and Rigby ran down the streets as they scurried to the park. It was a very sunny day in the highs of about 90° and the sun's light and heat were blazing on the two of them. Mordecai and Rigby saw the house where they lived at; which was also where all of the park's business took place. About three stories high, it was an average green house with a scruffy and worn out roof. You could tell that there have been repairs done to the house; due to all of the crazy things that go on in their 'regular' lives. When they reached it, Rigby started trudging along the ground, exhausted from all the running they had just commenced. Mordecai look back at Rigby and took a breath,

"RIGBY! HURRY! WE DON'T WANT BENSON TO YELL AT US! WE'RE PRACTICALLY HERE!"

Rigby grabbed a breath, "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO IS YELLING!"

Mordecai grunted and grabbed Rigby off the ground and carried him on his back. He took one step at a time up the stairs that led to the old and sturdy door of the house. Rigby looked down at Mordecai and realized how much sweat and effort he was putting into carrying him.

_Hmmm… do I weigh a lot? Humph… I haven't been on a scale in ages_. _I should probably lay off the cola._

Rigby then realized the feathers on the blue jay and realized that they were smooth and yet drenched in sweat.

_Wow, I didn't know how… good-looking… his feathers can…_

Rigby shut his eyes and shook the thought out of his head as he said to himself,

_NO! GO AWAY GAY THOUGHTS!_

He opened his eyes to see that Mordecai had just arrived in the kitchen and sat Rigby on the ground. Rigby put up the act on still being exhausted and laid there moaning. Mordecai, who was really tired now, fell down on the ground and moaned too. The air conditioning in the house was broken so the house was so humid that they felt like they were in the tropical rainforest. The two laid there and moaned for a while as they succumbed to the heat. After a while, Mordecai opened his eyes to see someone's nasty feet in front of him.

"Hey Fives, guess who else lies in the kitchen? MY MOM!"

Muscleman and High Fives Ghost, or just Fives for short, high fived each other and laughed at the raccoon and the blue jay. Mordecai grumbled and stood up against the heat. Rigby soon followed and glared at Muscleman. Muscleman was, of course, wearing no shirt but just pants. Muscleman let out a cough that sounded like a cat with a hairball in its throat and went to get food from the fridge. Mordecai and Rigby fixed themselves up and sat at the table. Fives just floated near them on the other side of the table. Suddenly, Muscleman yelled and slammed the fridge shut. Mordecai and Rigby flinched from this, including Fives. Mordecai spoke out,

"WHAT THE H MAN? What's your problem! "

"YEAH, what's YOUR Problem?" Rigby scooted himself closer to the table and stared at Muscleman from behind. Muscleman yelled,

"THERE'S NO COOLING IN THE FRIDGE! SO THE MILK WENT SOUR! IT'S… IT'S ALL YOUR FAULTS!"

He pointed directly at Mordecai and Rigby and then he slammed his fists against the fridge again. Mordecai and Rigby yelled at him to settle down, but Muscleman refused.

Mordecai was pisted off of Muscleman's attitude and sat back down on his seat. He sundennly got an idea and held Rigby down. He whispered to him to play along.

"So Rigby, did you enjoy your meal earlier this morning at the air conditioned… coffee shop?"

Rigby got the idea and gave a smirk toward Muscleman's direction,

"Yeah… actually, I enjoyed the cappuccino and the delicious bread they had."

"Oh Rigby, do you remember drinking that cold, thirst-quenching drink which we call… oh, I forgot what it's called… oh yeah,… milk?"

"Indeed my friend, indee-"

"HEY! YOU GUYS, SHUT UP! You losers don't know when to stop messing with me!"

Muscleman turned around and smacked the fridge again and again. Mordecai and Rigby were used to this though; it's not like they haven't done this before. Rigby loved it when he and Mordecai play with people. Or, in fact, he was happy to do anything involving only the two of them. Rigby loved it especially when Mordecai messes with Muscleman. They usually did it when Muscleman, and sometimes Fives, messed with them before. The two duos were in constant battles between each other when it came to bashing each other. It was rare when they did get along.

Muscleman calmed down and glared at Rigby and Mordecai from across the room.

"Look, we'll start the day off good if you two love birds can get along with me, got it?"

Mordecai and Rigby immediately stood up and pushed their chairs away. Now they were pist. They never like being called fags, especially from Muscleman. Rigby was angry at the fact on how Muscleman was making fun of Mordecai, even if he himself was in love with Mordecai. The true irony is that none of them knew Rigby's love interest. Mordecai stepped in and countered,

"GET ALONG? PLEASE! THE ONLY TIME THAT WE WILL GET ALONG IS WHEN ZOMBIE TRASH LIKE YOU STOPS MESSING WITH US! STOP USING STUPID REMARKS SAYING THAT WERE FAGS OR YOU'LL REGRET IT, RIGHT RIGBY!" Rigby then added to that, yelling,

"YEAH, YOU'RE JUST A GUT BUSTING MAMMA'S BOY. WE'LL NEVER KNOW HOW SHE WAS ABLE TO PUT YOU INTO THIS WORLD BUT I'M SO GLAD WE DON'T HAVE TO FIND OUT!"

Fives heard enough. "Hey you can't say that to Muscleman!" He stared coldly at Rigby.

"Besides, you need to stop standing up for your Man!" Fives then started patting Muscleman on the back, who was boiling with fury. Rigby started to shake with rage and released his anger by slamming the table in front of them.

"GO AHEAD AND SUPPORT YOUR TERRIBLE AND DISGUSTING FRIEND, FIVES. IN FACT, WHY DON'T YOU SHOVE YOUR HAND UP HIS HOLE AND MAKE HIM ROTATE ON IT!"

Muscleman replied, "ALL RIGHT THAT'S IT!" and started dashing toward Rigby, only to be shoved back from Mordecai who stood in front of Rigby. Muscleman struggled and got back up with Fives and Mordecai positioned himself for any upcoming attack. Rigby saw the angry blue jay's stance and admired him for a sec. Then he automatically fixed himself in fighting condition.

Muscleman, Fives, Rigby, and Mordecai stood in front of each other, examining every detail on their enraged faces. Sweat was gliding down from their craniums as they snorted at each other. What they didn't realize was that there was someone else already in the room. The figure yelled at the top of his lungs,

"**CALM DOOOWWWWNNN! ALL OF YOU! SIT DOWN RIGHT NOW OR YOU'RE FIRED!**"

All four of them changed focus and saw Benson at the doorway. Benson was steaming while his face was completely red. His eyes seemed like they were bulging from their sockets as the other boys immediately sat down. Benson looked to his left and right and calmed down. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He calmly said,

"Look. We all need to settle down. The heat is really getting to our heads. I'm just going to ignore what happen in here. Anyway, I already have Skips fixing the AC unit, since he can practically fix anything. Until then, I need you guys to get ready because we got some work to do."

From the back, they could hear Pops, the cheery and happy British man with a big lollipop head, trying to carry in a fan that would help cool off things. Pops was actually the son of the owner who owns the park. He also shares the house with Mordecai and Rigby. Pops brought in the fan, sat it down and plugged it in. It was a very small and old fashioned fan that worked a little. Even on 'HI' mode, it blew out some cool winds. Pops got all excited when the blades started to spin and made a weird laugh.

"OOH I do fancy this fan of ours."

Pops stared closely at the fan's blades and continued to giggle. Everyone except Benson stood in front of the fan, trying to cool themselves off from the heat. Benson left the kitchen to go check on Skips in the furnace room. While he was gone, Muscleman shoved everyone out of the way and allowed his gut to cover the fan.

"EWW! THAT'S SICK MAN!" Rigby said in disgust and tried to pull Muscleman out of the way. "MOVE you FATSO! You can't have it all to yourself!"

"Yeah, Rigby's right Muscleman! Give us some room!" Mordecai joined in and assisted Rigby. Fives just floated there with Pops. Muscleman refused to move and held his position on the fan.

"NOOOOO!"

Pops commented while the three were fighting over the fan,

"You guys should use nicer words to describe someone. When I was young, we called someone like Muscleman a… wait for it… a Bloater." He giggled to his own joke but the three boys weren't paying attention to him; only Fives listened.

Benson came back and saw that the three blunder heads were fighting again, this time over a stupid fan. He stomped his way to the outlet where the fan was plugged up and he tore it out of the outlet. Everyone was frightened at Benson's furious face. It was not a pretty face.

"**STOP FIGHTING OVER THIS STUPID AND PATHETIC FAN!"**

He picked up the fan and threw it at the fridge. It broke into a million of small pieces and he went and started stomping on it. He then pointed at all of them and screamed,

"**LEAVE AND ****GO DO YOUR CHORES! NOW! OR YOU ARE FIRED!"**

Everyone trembled and skedaddled out of the kitchen, leaving Benson to the broken pieces of a fan that would never work again.

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><p>Later that hour, Mordecai and Rigby sat outside in a shade that was underneath a tree and read their chore list that they've received from Benson.<p>

"Things to do for today. Go and do trash, clean the playground, fix concessions, pick litter up near the golf area, scrub the golf cart, clean park's bathrooms, and mow sections A1-6 today. Man, how are we going to do all of that in this heat! I hate doing these chores!" Rigby pouted and drank some water from his bottle. Mordecai looked at the list and read over it again.

"Don't worry Rigs, we got this. As long as we do this as fast as we can we can have enough time to go see Rocketeers 3 and hang out with Margaret and Eileen."

"Nah. Can we just play games and skip some of the chores?"

"No, dude. I wanna be able to go see Margaret tonight with no delays. If Benson found out we skipped some chores, he would make us do even more or even fire us. You got it?"

Rigby stared at Mordecai's eyes and noticed how bad Mordecai wanted to get this stuff done with so he could go see Margaret. He stared deeply into his eyes and started thinking to himself again. He questioned himself whether to help his friend out or not. His thoughts started commenting on what to do.

_Don't do it Rigby! If you help him out, he'll just have another chance to get closer to her and we know that you don't want that to happen. Besides, if he doesn't go to the movies then Margaret would have less of an interest to get to know him better._

Rigby liked the sound of the ending of his thoughts. But Rigby countered that thought with extra reasoning and continued.

_No wait a minute. You have to help him dude. He's your best friend and you can't let him down. Why would you? Why try to break his heart over some avian? To have him for yourself? How cruel and selfish can you get? Even though you want him and no one else, you should be a best friend for him and let him have that chance to go see Margaret. Yes, if you do get done with the work, you might have to deal with the Mordecai getting close to Margaret again. But you made one thing happen; you made Mordecai trust and rely on you even more. And that, Rigby, is something to gain. And maybe they won't be able to hit it off and she'll look for someone different. Later on, he can talk about his feelings to you and you will have the chance to earn a better bond with him, right? Just help him, it's the best thing to do for now._

Rigby came back to earth after being shooken by Mordecai. He shook his head after Mordecai got done saying his name for the fifth time. Rigby sighed to himself an then he put up his macho attitude and said,

"Sure, Mordecai! We don't wanna miss all the action now, do we?"

Mordecai laughed and playfully punched Rigby in the arm. He commented,

"Thank goodness! I thought the heat was getting to your head. Come on, we got work to do!"

They both got up and headed to the concessions stand. Rigby kept thinking on how things might go tonight and how things might turn out. One thing for sure though, the heat wasn't really getting to Rigby's head anymore. Mordecai was on his mind instead.

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><p><strong>Oh I will be adding more to this story! Hope you like it So Far! Pleas leave a commet because I wanna improve on my writing skills and be able to others opinions on my writing. Thank You for reading!<strong>

**Regular Show idea and characters belong to J.G Quintal. and Cartoon Network.**


	3. Chapter 3: Mordecai in the Stall

Chapter 3

Pebbles on the dirt road started to tremble and shift as the golf cart passed by. In the cart, Mordecai and Rigby were cruising along looking over their list of chores. It was around 3:30 p.m. and the heat was fading away due to the sun being blocked by puffs of random clouds. They have completed practically everything so far. But they had one last thing to do. Mordecai looked down at Rigby while driving and saw that Rigby 'borrowed' sunglasses from the concession stand. He usually 'borrowed' stuff from the stand, since no one watched it.

"Hey! You can't take sunglasses from the concession stand… Unless you get a pair for your pal!"

"Why wouldn't I!" Rigby slid him a pair and they both put theirs on.

"We're wearing Suuuuunglasses…"

"SUUnGlassess!" Then they broke down into a beat and sang out,

"OOOHHH WE GOT SUNGLASSES! WE GOT SHADES THAT HIDES OUR FACES!"

"WE CAN GLARE AND STARE WHILE THE SUN SO BRIGHT, WE ALSO CAN WEAR THEM EVEN IN THE NIGHT!"

"WE LOOK SO COOL IN OUR CART; WE'LL EVEN CATCH EVERY DESPARTE LADIE'S HEART! YOU CAN'T TELL US WHAT TO DO BECAUSE WE ONLY LOOK DOWN ON YOU BECAUSE WE GOT SUNGLASSES! UH UHUH UH!"

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Mordecai then put on his serious but cool face and spoke with his bad ass voice,

"Hey Rigby, let's go… clean the bathrooms."

They both hive fived each other and started nodding their heads up and down. They headed up a steep hill and Mordecai stomped on the gas. The cart sped up as they drove it right off the top of the hill. They were airborne for about six seconds while feeling the wind brushing across their bodies. The sun's light gleamed on the wannabe daredevil's shades as they dropped to the ground with a couple of rebounds. Then they performed a 720° spin near the bathroom shacks and slammed on the brakes. The cart made a screeching noise while smoke from the burnt wheels covered the area of where they stopped at.

Mordecai and Rigby got out, with their sunglasses still on, and stood there in the park. They have left dark tracks on the roadand their cart was covered in dry dirt. They looked around and noticed that there was no one there other than them. Mordecai and Rigby shrugged and headed inside the bathroom shacks which had the stench of dirty socks. But they were used to it, since they did this every day. They pushed the raggedy, bathroom door and grabbed their supplies from the chemical drool labeled 'For Bathroom'. The sunglasses made it difficult for Mordecai and Rigby to see since it was kind of dim in there. So they place them on the chemical drool. The bathroom was littered with toilet paper, scattered across the floor, and the sinks were left dripping. The light bulb hanging from the ceiling was already out. So Mordecai grabbed a new light bulb and twisted it in the outlet. It flickered a little then it went bright white. The light illuminated the room, showing more of the bathroom and its disturbing contents. Mordecai and Rigby sighed from the sight of the place. They never understood why the bathroom was always disgusting, even when they cleaned it once every two days.

"Ewww man! Who throws wet toilet paper on the ceilings?"

"I don't know man but we have to focus. As soon as we get this done, we can start getting ready for the movie tonight."

"Yeah, we both know you wanna snuggle with Margaret right! You and Margaret sitting in a tree, K.A.S.S.I.N.G!" Rigby laughed out loud and started sweeping the floor. Mordecai shook his head, noticing that Rigby couldn't even spell the word 'kissing'. He went and turned off most of the sinks. He went to the last one on the far right and twisted the greasy handle. But no matter how hard he tried twisting it, the sink kept dripping water. Mordecai left it and moved on. He got out some Lysol, sprayed each sink and wiped each one down.

Ten minutes passed and Mordecai and Rigby were partly done. They had to clean the toilets, plus anything else in the stalls. Rigby and Mordecai went and flushed each toilet, ignoring the contents within each.

"Mordecai, have you seen all of these words and slangs on these stalls?"

"Yeah dude, there are probably a hundred of them all over this place!" Mordecai looked at his stall and what it had on it. There were phrases like the following; 'The World is on Crack', 'Rrrrrun (n word)', 'KKK', 'Baby doll, I Love You', 'I'm Peeping on You', and many more symbols, drawings, and graffiti. Mordecai was really fed up from all the biased remarks stated on the pale walls. He then looked to his left and saw a huge drawing of a swastika with words all around it. _How did I miss that?_, he said to himself. He stared at every word and yelled to Rigby,

"Hey Rigby, check this out over here." Rigby soon came and looked at the very detailed swastika and the different shadings on the lines. The words that surrounded the swastika were names for types of beings. Mordecai read out loud some of the words,

"Jews, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians, (n word), Arabians, Animals," but then he stopped at one of the words and froze. Rigby saw it too and froze as well. Then Rigby whispered in disgust,

"Fags."

Rigby looked down and Mordecai just stared at the word. The swastika sparked horrid flashbacks in the back of Mordecai's mind. He ignored them and spoke out,

"Really! Why do these people have a problem with practically everyone who isn't white and straight! They're Crazy!" Mordecai immediately went out of the stall, grabbed a ' Magic Eraser', came back and started wiping the drawing away. Mordecai then started to rant, which he typically did when he was annoyed.

"Like seriously! What are wrong with beings who have different skin color, or are animals like us? Or even those who have different sexual interests? Why do people like these Nazis freaks still exist? You know what? Who cares what they think! Right Rigby!"

Rigby looked up at Mordecai. He quietly spoke with a curious tone of voice.

"Are you saying that you don't mind homosexuals?"

Mordecai looked down at Rigby, confused. _Why did he ask that?_ He lowered his 'magic eraser' and sighed. He then spoke with more enthusiasm,

"Yeah, why not? Homosexuals are just people with different sexual interests. What's wrong with them pursuing on who they want to be with? If all men and woman were created equally, then people should be allowed to date whoever they want to date. If straight people want to go with the opposite sex or if gay people want to go with the same sex or if bisexuals want to go with either sex, then so be it!"

Mordecai turned back around and glared at the swastika on the wall. He continued scrubbing it off, not taking his eyes off it. Rigby smiled and blushed to himself, but noticed how ticked off Mordecai looked. He walked back to the other stall where he was previously at. Mordecai was all by himself in the violated stall, scrubbing and spraying, watching the marks go away from every stroke. The water from the unfixable sink dripped slower and slower. The drops cascaded into Mordecai's mind. He was full of anger. He revisited his memories from the school he used to go to before he moved and met Rigby. He remembered meeting those he wished he had forgotten. The droplets from the sink continued to batter his mind as they reminded him of his past.

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><p>6th grade.<p>

The first year in Kristman middle school was a life changer for him. Mordecai came into it with a different approach then what most students did. He was different compared to the students there, since he was one of the only anthros (animal with human characteristics) there.

He only had one best friend before Rigby, named Samson, who also went to Kristman. He remembered that Samson was a pale, kind-looking young boy who had a small scar across the bottom of his chin; due to a car accident. His parents had a divorce before he was born and he lived with his mom, who smoked a lot, and his older brother to whom he looked up to. His brother seemed like a good person on first impressions, but was sadly a bad influence on Samson. Samson got his style of talking from learning the words that his brother would use to talk back to his mother when they got into fights.

Samson had it tough and usually kept to himself before he met Mordecai. As for Mordecai, his life was practically normal. An only son with two loving parents, he had it simple. No major catastrophes or such. It's just that Mordecai was pretty lazy when it came to work or chores. He lacked enthusiasm to try new things. (Mordecai smirked to himself. He still lacks responsibilities sometimes, but he was more irresponsible in the beginning of his 6th grade year.)

Mordecai thought of the first time he met Samson while continuing to scrub the swastika. Their first classroom was full of students talking to each other. They were forced to talk to each other, since the teacher saw that they weren't talking to anyone. After awhile, they realized that they had a lot in common, like favorite food, color, etc. They started hanging out in the 6th grade bathrooms and talked about the classes they had and the teachers they had to deal with. Their above normal high pitch voices interacted like cobwebs, with the dripping of the sinks in the bathroom, as they discussed everything with each other. They were the best of friends; always giving each other silly faces in class, playing hooky and heading to the arcade, or just hanging out after school. They both weren't good in their school work, since they didn't care too much for school. They wanted to get away from the work and just have fun playing games or finding things to do. Mordecai's parents weren't impressed. They said that his grades needed to improve or they would take serious actions. Mordecai didn't care though. He was too focused on how Samson thought of him. He had a secret journal to where he would write about his day with Samson and he brainstormed on what Samson thought of him. He had deep feelings for him. He just never admitted it to anyone. He knew it was wrong or weird but he couldn't help it. He liked girls but he also found boys interesting too. One day in the third month of the school year, Mordecai and Samson met up in the bathroom once again. The more they saw each other, the more Mordecai liked Samson and the more Samson talked with a tuff dude attitude.

"Heeeey! What's up Mordie!"

"Nothing much man, nothing much."

Mordecai slapped fives with his friend and did their secret handshake. Their special handshake had specific steps to follow; thumb press against each other's hands, twist the thumbs and smack the hands together.

"So dude, did you do the assignment from the teacher?"

"Nah Mordie you know that I don't try for someone like him!"

They both laughed and joked some more. After a while Samson interrupted Mordecai's laugh.

"Hey, guess what my brother got for me yesterday." He looked around to make sure no one was in the bathroom and then he slipped a pack of cigarettes from his jacket."You wanna try some later at my house? He got it from my mom's treasure box." Samson held the pack closer to Mordecai's face. Mordecai was shocked at the sight of his friend having a pack of this.

"Ummm… nah dude. I really… don't want… to try it out and neither should you. You should throw those away since they can hurt your lu- "

"Oh come on man! Did health class get into your head!"

"No, no it didn't! But it's not smart to be tryi-"

"Wait a sec. Are you calling me dumb since I want to try some cigs?"

"Umm… no… it's just that you're better than this Samson. Drugs don't make you cool dude. I… I care about you dude." Samson stared at Mordecai and gave him a disappointed face.

"Are you a pussy dude? Because none of my friends can be fags, you hear me?" Mordecai countered back remarking,

"NO Man! That's so immature of you! I'm just worried that you might get addicted to this stuff and that you'l-"

"You know what? I don't want your advice fag!" Samson then picked up his pack of cigarettes and headed out. He paused at the door way and sighed, "Talk to you later."

Mordecai stood there, feeling guilty for not saying yes to the cigarette part or the fag part.

They hung out during the next weeks that followed, visiting each other's houses. While Mordecai did all the talking, Samson didn't really say much. Conversations between them became awkward as Mordecai saw that Samson had changed. Time passed by and Mordecai saw Samson less and less during the middle of the school year. He saw that he was too busy hanging with the big ugly kids. He also acted tougher just to look cool. Mordecai didn't like Samson as he used to and threw his journal away in the neighborhood's dump. In school, rumors spread like a plague that Samson was selling many types of drugs. But no adult heard of the rumor.

Since they didn't see each other much, Mordecai decided that he should focus and improve on his school work to keep his head off of Samson. Besides, no one else wanted talked to him anyway. He moved from C's to B's, and then he was able to get A's and B's on his report card.

On the last week of the 6th grade year, Mordecai's parents told him that his father was fired from his job but they found another one off state. They told him that he was being transferred to a new school. What the parents expected Mordecai to do was to probably cry for hours on end. But instead Mordecai jumped for joy and hugged his parents. _Finally_, he thought, _one more week and I'll never have to deal with that school ever again. I can start brand new!_

On the day before the last day of school, he went into the bathroom and saw his long-time-no-see pal, getting out of one of the stalls. Samson glared at him and grunted. Mordecai saw that Samson's skin was almost as white as snow and that he was skinnier than usual. Samson snorted a little and spoke.

"Aw Mordie, how's it going for you man?" Samson was acting weird as he kept shifting his eye positions left and right.

"Um… doing great dude. And you?"

"Haven't felt better! I got loyal friends now who give me what I need." He chuckled to himself and shifted to the chipped mirror, looking at his reflection closely. Mordecai noticed that some of his body parts were flinching as he saw a small swastika on his ankle.

"Samson, are you feeling alrigh -"

"YOU THINK I'M NOT FEELING FINE? YOU THINK I'M CRAZY? YOU ANIMALS DON'T KNOW WHEN TO SAY NOTHING TO US SUPERIORS!" He then went over and backhanded Mordecai on his beak. Mordecai backed off and shoved Samson away from him.

_What the h is going on with Samson? What did I do to cause him to do that? _Mordecai got to his feet, while feeling his beak, and went into 'flight' mode. He tried running out of the bathroom but got bumped back by some other dudes.

"Hey Samson, is this jay bothering you?" One of them started to kick Mordecai on the ground and Samson joined in. Mordecai was gaining bruises all over his body until he finally go the nerve to swing his wing right up against Samson's crotch.

"EEEEEEEEEAAAAHHHH!" Samson knelt down from the excruciating pain and whimpered a little. His pals went around Mordecai and helped Samson with his problem. Mordecai then ran out hearing,

"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS MORDECAI!"

Later that day, Mordecai said nothing to his parents about what happened to him. He didn't want to cause any more drama right before the last day of school. During the night, Mordecai pondered about what Samson was planning on doing to him tomorrow. A fight? Mordecai looked back to all that happened this year and what he could have done different. _Should I have been nicer to Samson? Should I have tried to be cool with him? No, he's a crazy douche who deserved the worst._ Mordecai shook his head in agreement and fell asleep.

The next morning was quite windy as Mordecai felt the cool winds on his feathers as he jogged to school. His alarm clock rung two hours after he was supposed to wake up and his parents didn't wake him up since they were gone running errands early int the morning. When he arrived, he noticed that a lot of students' faces were looking straight at his. Some of the students whispered to each other as Mordecai started to sweat from being watched at. He walked his way down the hallway as students came up and were laughing at him. Mordecai was confused as to what was going on. He grabbed himself a late pass and walked to his class. In it, the teacher took the pass and asked him to sit down. He was reading from the textbook out loud. During this, Mordecai was given a letter from one of the students. Mordecai opened it and read,

"Hey gay jay! Love the journal!"

Mordecai froze and stared at the letter, frozen from fear. He looked up at the sight of most of the students' faces glaring and smirking at him. At the back of the room was Samson, waving at Mordecai and mouthing 'Faggot'. He then held up his secret journal, the one where he wrote all about his feelings about Samson. Mordecai felt his whole body chill up as the school bell ringed for third period. Mordecai stormed out of the room where he saw students pointing and laughing at him, calling him homo or faggot. Some threw pieces of paper at him as he stood there looking around and yelled at them to stop. He opened one of the sheets that were thrown at him and saw his handwriting. The papers that his peers were looking at were copies of his journal, with Samson's name marked away with a black sharpie line. Everyone in the hall started to yell, "GAY JAY,GAY JAY!" and kept repeating themselves. Mordecai threw the paper down and ran for it. He wanted to get away from all the laughter and name-calling. People shoved him leftand right as he was taped witht the papers. His eyes were filled with tears as he ran out the doors and into the parking lot. He ran all the way home and locked the door. He cried to himself on his bed, trying to forget what had happened to him. That was the last time he ever saw the school. He skipped the rest of the day and was comforted by his parents.

A week later, Mordecai and his parents packed and started heading to their new home during midnight. They wanted to get a head start on the next day so that his dad wouldn't miss his first day at his job. He saw the streets one last time, examining every crack and building there was. At a stoplight, Mordecai noticed on the side of a gas station a big swastika with extra graffiti on it. He then saw police officers arresting a boy about his age who probably had something to do with the graffiti. A pack of cocaine was on top of the officer's car as well. The boy who was getting arrested was very pale and a little underweight. Mordecai put his face to the mirror and realized that it was no random kid, but it was Samson. The car drove forward as Mordecai saw, for the first and last time, a glimpse of what Samson's future was going to be like; drugs, swastikas and time.

* * *

><p>Mordecai opened his eyes. He looked at the bathroom wall and realized that he had already gotten rid of the swastika. He felt tears running down his beak as he wiped them away. He didn't want Rigby to see him cry. He looked around the bathroom and saw that every other toilet in there was clean and spotless. He looked to his right and saw that the sink that was broken was now fixed; not a single drop fell from it. He looked to his left and saw Rigby, who was putting away some sprays and chemicals.<p>

"Wow Rigby! You got some serious skill dude!"

"Yeah I guess I do have valuable skill when I want to use it. But be aware Mordecai, I also got gun skills too!" Rigby then pretended that his hands were like guns and he blew on them. Mordecai laughed and joined in on the pretending. Mordecai was confused on how Rigby cleaned the bathroom without him noticing. But he exclaimed,

"Since were done dude, we can head back and get ready for the movies tonight, and possibly some game time!" Mordecai and Rigby slapped hive fives and yelled,

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!"

They grabbed their sunglasses and headed out the bathroom. They jumped into the cart and Mordecai slammed on the gas, speeding on the dirt road. They both sang their song again about sunglasses, busting new rhymes and beats with one another.

Mordecai was so glad that he knew Rigby. To Mordecai, Rigby wasn't a follower. He was his own raccon and Mordecai respected him. He knew that Rigby wouldn't tramp up his own friends just to benefit or make themselves feel better. He was a true friend.

Moredcai was in love with Margaret and would do anything for her. But it's not like he didn't have mixed feelings for Rigby either. He did; ever since he met Rigby at the new school that he transferred to. He just wasn't open about it until it was necessary. He never told Rigby, or anybody for that matter. Why would he? To be judged or to be laughed at agian? He also didn't want to risk the chance on losing his friend too. He only wanted people to think that he was straight, and only straight, so he wouldn't have to deal with being made fun of. So he emotionally attached himself to Margaret, the girl of his dreams. He felt like it was the perfect solution to hide his 'other' desires and pursue to those that were acceptable in this society.

He wanted Margaret to love him back, but he questioned if she would ever fall in love with him. He could only keep trying to get to her heart.

If him and her never worked out, well then maybe... just maybe... he could go for Plan B.

Or Plan RigB.

* * *

><p><strong>Note to readers: <strong>

**Thank you for reading this so far! I know it's pretty long but I put a lot of effort into it. Don't worry; there will be more to come! I also took time to go back and fix a couple of mistakes in Chapter 2 but not much :) Thanks again and PLEASE leave a review or comment! I want to IMPROVE, I say, IMPROVE! XD**

**Regular Show belongs to J.G Quintal and Cartoon Network.**


	4. Chapter 4: Ties, Popcorn, and Margaret

Chapter 4

The red and blue cords entangled with the yellow and black ones as Skip's fingertips unraveled each one. A few minutes later, Skips closed the air conditioning control box and started it up. Benson came down the stairs and saw Skips standing proud of his handiwork while trying not to gloat. The gumball machine felt the cool air breeze through the vents as it enveloped the house. Benson patted Skips on the back and thanked him for his help.

"No problem Benson. It is the least I can do for you guys. All it needed was a little tweaks, pulls and turns."

"I really appreciate you for doing that job for us Skips, I owe you one! You've put me in the greatest mood today. And do you know what the best part is? There is nothing else to worry about!"

Sadly, Benson spoke too soon as he heard two familiar voices far off from outside. The living room window vibrated from the voices as Benson's ear holes rang from the distant…

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The blue jay and raccoon skidded along the dusty ground with their golf cart. Mordecai pushed on the brakes and kept spinning around about eight times before they slammed into some trashcans which were near the house. After they came to a stop, Mordecai and Rigby jumped out and 'hi fived' each other. They analyzed their surroundings and saw the murder scene of the trashcans, all scattered out along the front of the house. From inside the house, Benson and Skips could tell that the two were freaking out by waving their hands around. The blue jay and raccoon then scrambled to pick up the pieces of trash. During this, they kept bumping into each other from panic. Skips turned his head to see that Benson was already steaming with fury. The cool air conditioning couldn't even cool off Benson's temper at this point. Skips sighed…

"Benson, you need to ca-"

**"WHY? WHY IS IT THAT EVERYTIME I HAVE A GOOD DAY, IT'S THOSE TWO MORONS WHO RUIN EVERYTHING FOR ME? I CAN'T STAND THEM!"**

"Benson, you need to calm down." Skips held Benson down and let him sit on the couch. "Do you remember what your yoga teacher said? Say it with me. Breathe in and breathe out. Breathe in an-"

"-d breathe out. Breeeaathe iiiiinn and breathe out. Breathe in and breathe out."

Benson calmed down and laid on the couch. He really wanted to calm his nerves and not to strangle the guys (even though he wanted to so badly). He felt like yoga was a way of letting go of his anger. Benson got off the couch and sat down on the rug. He started performing the 'plow pose', which consisted of him putting his legs over his body while lying on his back. Skips shook his head and went into the kitchen to leave Benson alone. Seconds later, Benson heard Pops skipping merrily down the stairs with his usual giggling. Benson tried to ignore him and closed his eyes to focus on his 'inner peace'. Pops noticed Benson in the pose and marveled on how flexible Benson was.

"Oh Benson! Are you doing yoga? OH that is Exciting! You are quite the flexible gumball machine. May I join you?"

Benson remained silent. Pops shrugged and joined in on all the 'fun'. They both posed there for a minute. Pops looked around the room and at Benson. He was confused on how this was supposed to be relaxing. Suddenly, Mordecai and Rigby came walking in, pushing the door wide open. Rigby yelled,

"HEY YALL! HOW'S IT… going?" The two froze and saw what Benson and Pops were doing. Benson held his eyes shut, gritting his teeth, and tried to ignore the fact that they were in there. He focused so hard that he got lost in his own world and blocked everything that was going on at the moment.

Pops giggled while trying to fix his position.

"Hey Mordecai and Rigby! Want to join us for some yoga? It's most relaxing."

"Ummm… No thanks Pops. We'll be on our way. Let's go… Rigby."

They awkwardly tip toed up the stairs, leaving the two to their yoga pose.

Going down the bland hallway, the two rounded about and ran into their room. The bedroom was unkempt and disorganized as clothes were scattered here and there. But they didn't care much. Besides, no one ever goes into their room in the first place. Rigby ran and jumped on his trampoline bed, covered in clothes that he never wore much. He bounced a couple of times before his bounces diminished. Mordecai jumped on his bed with positioning his back on it and laid there. They felt as if they had done a lot of work today and they figured '_why not rest a bit?'_ Mordecai turned his head and stared at their digital clock. The neon, dashed lines read 5:05 p.m.

"So Rigby, you wanna go play video games first and then get dressed for tonight?"

"Ummm… sure! Why not? We got tons of time before we have to be there at 8:25 p.m."

The two immediately got up and ran downstairs to the living room. Rigby slid on the side railings while Mordecai jumped over the couch. Benson and Pops were still doing their awkward poses while Mordecai and Rigby grabbed the controllers and plugged in the game system.

"Hey Benson, we've done all of our chores and screwed nothing up today! So, we're just gonna play some games for awhile! If that's cool with you, right?"

Benson didn't resond, since he was long gone in his mind. Mordecai shrugged and put in the game called 'Police Chase'. Pops stopped with his pose and sat straight up. He certainly did not feel better from the yoga experience. He then stared at the game that Mordecai and Rigby were about to play.

"Oooooooo! Mordecai and Rigby, may I play this game about the 'scuffer' in a chase with you?"

Rigby whispered to the blue jay, "What's a 'scuffer'?"

"It's a policeman, dude."

"I thought they were called popos." Pops interrupted them, "PLLLEEAASSSEE?"

"Well sure Pops, hop on!" Rigby scooted over and patted the couch. Pops sat down and bounced up and down from his uncontrollable excitement while Mordecai passed out the overused controllers. He made himself first player, Rigby second, and Pops third.

"HEY MORDECAI! That's not fair! You said that I'd be first player this time!"

"Sorry dude but maybe next time." Mordecai put his feet on the table in front of him and started the game. Rigby mumbled to himself and Pops settled down. Mordecai and Rigby showed Pops all the controls and buttons in the game and taught him the rules. The game was about trying to escape from the police after robbing the national bank. All three were playing for about an hour and Pops wasn't that bad at the game; he beat Rigby's score and came in 2nd to Mordecai. Rigby hid his face as Mordecai was nudging him and laughing at the situation. Pops found it funny too and joined in on nudging the irritated raccoon. Pops and Mordecai's laughter, plus the mumblings from Rigby, woke up Benson from his pose and he finally sat up.

"**Mordecai! Rigby! What have I told you about not playing games until your chores are done?"**

"What are you talking about Benson? We finished all of our work today, right Rigby?"

Rigby smudged a smile and shook his head in agreement. Pops jumped into the conversation.

"OH BENSON! It's So much fun playing games. I simply enjoy it better than yoga!" Pops pressed the start button and played by himself. Benson ignored Pops and returned to his original conversation with Mordecai and Rigby.

"How long have I been in that pose? My back is-" he ached while stretching his back, "killing me."

"Only an hour I guess, so it's around 6:10-ish. We got plenty of time before we can head out!"

"Where are you two morons going tonight?" Rigby butted in,

"To the MOOOVVIIES! With LAADDIIEES! At EIIIGHT TWEENTY FFIVE! OOOOOOOOOOOHHH!"

Pops paused the game and looked at his watch.

"Um… Rigby. Actually it's 7:29 p.m."

Mordecai jumped out his seat and looked directly at Pop's watch. "OH MY GOD DUDE! IS IT REALLY? WE PLAYED LONGER THAN WE SHOULD HAVE!"

Mordecai went into panic mode and grabbed Rigby. Rigby was overwhelmed on how Mordecai grabbed him as he was tugged along for the ride. The two ran up the stairs, went to their bedroom and started putting formal clothes on. Rigby took his time getting ready, bringing out his clothes in order, while Mordecai was rushing like there was no tomorrow, throwing his clothes on. For a sec, Mordecai looked at the digital clock that showed that it was 6:31 p.m.

_Ugh… Rigby forgot to change the clock for day-light savings time._ Mordecai was annoyed at Rigby's irresponsibility and he wanted to tell Rigby that he screwed their scheduling up. But he rethought about it. _Everyone makes mistake Mordecai; even you. _Mordecai smiled to himself and regained focus.

After about fifteen minutes or so, Mordecai was dressed in his nice tuxedo with a red bouquet. With his long black slacks and squeaky, clean shoes, Mordecai was determined to impress Margaret with his fashion sense; even though the tuxedo was rented a week ago. Mordecai looked around and saw that Rigby, who came out from the bathroom across the hall, was wearing a formal purple shirt with some black slacks and shoes. Mordecai was quite impressed with his snazzy style but he felt like something was missing.

*Snaps* "You need a tie, dude!" Mordecai went to his drawls and pulled out a white and shiny tie with black streaks on the sides. "You can put on a tie, right?"

Rigby looked up at the tie. He never really liked wearing ties much and preferred just a dress shirt when dressing nice.

"I thought we were just going to the movies anyway dude! Not a classy restaurant."

"Well, yeah… but come on dude… do this for-"

Suddenly, Mordecai's phone started to ring on his bed. Mordecai reached for it and froze.

"Dude, Margaret is calling!"

"Well then… Answer it Man!"

Mordecai let out a breath and answered the call.

"Oh Hey Margaret...Yeah… uh huh… of course we're getting ready… what… a classy restaurant… her father really owns that place?... Wow, that's Great… okay see you then… yeah Rigby knows… okay… See you then!"

Mordecai hung up the phone and sat it back on the bed.

"Guess who's going out to Spaghatta's tonight after the movie?"

"ummm… who's going?"

"Ugh, we're going dude!"

"Oh Really? How man?"

"Well, Eileen's father owns the restaurant and she was able to convince him to let us have a free dinner there! Now you have no choice but to put this tie on. Please Dude! It will make it worth your while with Eileen!"

"Psssh. Eileen… please. I can do way better than her. Besides, I don't see how she really likes me." Rigby snatched the tie from Mordecai and faced the mirror, that was hanging on the door, to help himself put it on. Rigby was disgusted at the thought of being with that mole. He could only picture himself with Mordecai really; no one else would fit his criteria.

Mordecai chuckled a little and looked at the clock. It read 6:45 p.m. But Mordecai knew that it was an hour behind. He looked back at the raccoon and saw that he was struggling with the tie.

"Here dude, let me help you out with that." Mordecai crouched down to Rigby's height, reached over Rigby's shoulders and grabbed hold of the tie. Both of them were facing the mirror as he pulled Rigby closer and untangled the knots he made. Rigby could feel Mordecai's feathers brush against his shirt as he felt the heat of the avian. The cologne that the blue jay had on was strong yet desirable. Rigby looked away to one side, trying not to look into Mordecai's eyes as he felt the jay near him. He blushed a little and he slightly twisted his tail but at the same time tried so hard to fight with his emotions. He put on a straight face and was clenching his fists. Mordecai finally fixed up the tie and looked at Rigby in the reflection. He noticed that something was not right with Rigby as sweat was coming from his brow.

"Is it too tight on you dude? Here, let me loosen it." He turned Rigby around and tugged his tie. Mordecai grabbed the shorter length of the tie and loosened it up. He got closer to Rigby to fix the position of the tie. Face to face, his beak was barely touching Rigby's cheek as it brushed his fur for a millisecond. Rigby continued to struggle to keep a straight face as he gulped and pulled his collar. Mordecai did the final touches on his tie as he finally pulled the tie hard enough to make it look ready. When he did this, the pull forced Rigby to nudge forward and both of their faces came into contact. When Mordecai felt their cheeks touching, he felt Rigby's soft fur brush against his beak. Strangely, he liked the contact for a brief second before immediately snapping out of it and flinching back. Still in the same crouch position, he saw Rigby standing there with his body leaning forward and with his eyes closed. Rigby was lost in his own world, seeing Mordecai floating in his thoughts. He imagined Mordecai hugging him as he felt nothing else but blue and white plumage. Suddenly,

"RIGBY?"

Rigby opened his eyes. He was in utter confusion from what was going on as he saw his arms outstretched in front of him and his lips were barely pursed out. He fixed himself straight and flinched back. He and Mordecai were crouched in front of each other, both giving the same confused look. Only a few feet apart, they both stayed still, frozen from the contact they had just experienced. They stared at each other's eyes and stances, as they could not utter any words out. The only noise that was heard was the air conditioning; swift and subtle as it set the chills for the two. Questions popped in their heads as they continued to awkwardly stare at each other. In Mordecai's head, thoughts of his secret interest of Rigby popped up.

_Oh shoot! I should have brushed him off faster! He doesn't suspect me of having any interest in him, right?_

He then switched the subject in his head.

_What was he doing anyway? He has been acting like that near me all day long; all with the eyes and zonings. Does he… does he…_

(Mordecai scratched the idea out of his head.) _No, that's impossible. He's been having an off day maybe. Besides, he's way more into girls. Never a guy._

It didn't take long for Mordecai to brake the awkward silence between the two.

"Ummm… Rigby… you've been acting weird all day with your… zoning and such and I'm… ummm… I'm wondering if you… like to tal-"

Rigby realized where Mordecai could be leading. He became nervous and started to sweat.

_Oh no! Why was I acting that way? Mordecai doesn't think that- No… he can't know! Not now... I WON'T LET HIM FIND OUT!_

Rigby wanted to avoid that conversation with Mordecai at all costs. He put his macho attitude on quick to change the subject.

"I'VE BEEN ACTING WEIRD? '(sarcastically)' Pleeease! **You were the one tearing up in the bathroom today! WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?"**

"Whoa dude, hold on a sec. I was just remembering something back then. Besides, **it's none of your beeswax. But, hey, all day you've been staring at stuff and at me and you won't even admi-"**

"**STOP TALKING!"** Rigby turned around and looked at his poor face in the mirror's reflection. He wiped his teary eyes and tried to hide his face from Mordecai. Mordecai obviously could tell that something was troubling Rigby, as if he was hiding something. Mordecai clenched his fists from the frustration and anguish. He wanted to dig up what was wrong with Rigby; to know what he was thinking when he zoned. But he figured it would be best to figure it out in time.

Mordecai let go of his anger and troubling thoughts. He sighed and sat on the bed. He looked at the late clock and then looked down at his slacks. He lowered his eyes and his eyes let a tear slip by. His voice died down as he spoke to the troubled raccoon.

"Dude, look. It's 7:57. Let's just… let's just forget what happened today. I'm sorry dude. I… I never wanted to hurt your feelings. I just... care about you… you're like a brother to me." Mordecai looked back at Rigby who had already turned around. Mordecai got up from the bed and got on one knee with his right wing outstretched. "You forgive me Rigs?"

Rigby looked at the wing and, with his teary eyes, smiled back at Mordecai. They shook in agreement. "Of course dude, if you are able to fix my tie?" Rigby pointed down to where the tie was pulled off to the side. They both laughed and Mordecai gave a playful punch to Rigby's arm. He then quickly fixed the tie and patted him on the back. After calming to mood down, Mordecai realized what he said earlier.

"Wait! Did I just say it was 7:5-? Dude, the movie's gonna start soon and I don't want to miss it."

They both fixed themselves up and bolted out the door and down the stairs. They asked Pops for the keys to his car and he reluctantly handed them over without anyone else knowing. The two ran into the garage and drove off in the fancy, manual stick shift car, and they 'hi fived' each other. Along the way, Rigby remembered the time when they tried to get phone numbers from any girl, with a smooth ride, so they could win a bet against Margaret and Eileen. However, they wrecked Pop's car by crashing into a tree.

"Mordecai, I actually don't understand how Pops forgot that we wreck his old car before."

"Umm… actually Rigby, I don't understand either. But oh well."

They both laughed and sang to some of the songs from the radio along the way. The sun was barely on the horizon as the darkness was creeping over the sky. Rigby looked at the streets and at the flashing advertisements that read 'CHOM'. His eyes then came upon a store that appeared to be, in his opinion, a comic store that was having a special sale.

"Hey Mordecai. Do you want to check out that comic store tomorrow?"

Mordecai peered over at the store and regained focus on the black road. "Sure dude. I haven't read anything since the time Skips showed us how to fix our computer."

Rigby looked away from Mordecai and blushed. _Yes, more time with Mordecai! Score!_

* * *

><p>After a few minutes passed, they pulled up to the Regal's Movie Theater and parked. It was a busy night, by the amount of cars who have already taken over most of the spots in the parking lot. Mordecai and Rigby jumped out of the car and jogged toward the front of the theatre. They waited in a line with ten other people, a family of three came up to wait behind them. There were a father, mother, and a child. The parents were dressed in nice clothing yet they looked like they had bags under their eyes. The small child was a ginger-haired girl with freckles. She wore a small, pink bow on top of her light, red hair. She seemed nice at first appearance but in reality, she was really spoiled.<p>

"MOM, DAD, I WANT SNACKS FOR THE MOVIE NOW!" Her parents said nothing against the girl and promised to get her some. She then smiled and giggled at the people around her, acting all cute after the tantrum. Rigby saw the whole thing and glared at her.

"Hmph… spoiled brat." The girl turned around from her parents and glared right back. Mordecai looked down from scanning the movie schedules and saw Rigby in a crouching stance; as if he was some sort of cowboy. "Rigby, what are you doing?"

"Me and little miss spotted face are having a glaring contest. You should join in with me dude! She can't compete with two… I mean four eyes!" Mordecai looked over and saw the ginger girl glaring at them.

"Dude, come on. She isn't worth your time. You're fighting with an eight year old practically."

"No, I'm fighting with a spoiled, girly brat!" Rigby's glare narrowed as Mordecai shook his head with a grin. _Oh Rigby… you and your competitive spirit._

After three minutes in line, Mordecai and Rigby finally got their tickets to go see 'Rocketeers 3'. When they got the tickets, Rigby turned around and sticked his tongue out at the ginger girl. She gave a raspberry expression towards him as a counterattack before the blue jay and raccoon entered the theatre. It was hard to tell who was who in there as people were crowding around for snacks and restrooms. The two eventually spotted Margaret and Eileen near the ticket custodian. Margaret was wearing a black, long dress with yellow and white crescent lines going up. The shining lights in the theatre made Margaret glow as Mordecai marveled at the sight. Rigby looked up and then gave a cold stare towards Margaret. Right next to the beautiful avian was the mole, with curly hair and a small blue dress. You could tell that she had put on tons of makeup and was wearing six-inch heels. Eileen glanced over and saw the two boys. She tugged on Margaret and pointed. Then she yelled,

"HEY RIGBY!" Eileen started walking towards him with difficulty as she fobbed with her high heels. Rigby moaned to himself and acted as if he cared. She tripped and landed on his arms.

"Oh excuse me *giggled* what a coincidence." Rigby could see the obvious blushes on her cheeks as he fixed herself back up. Margaret and Mordecai followed close by and met up. After associating with themselves, they all showed their tickets to the custodian.

"Fine. Section A6, to your left. Enjoy the movie." Before they started heading their way, Eileen dramatically fell down and struggled to get back up.

"Oh Rigby! Help me out. Please?"

"Why don't you take the high heels off instead?" Eileen froze from the remark and stared at the ground. _What should I say? _She thought of the best excuse that she could think of.

"Ummm… But I like these shoes very much!" She gave a wide smile and giggled some more.

Rigby grunted at the lame excuse. _She was never good at excuses. _He sighed and put her arm around his shoulder. By height, Eileen appeared taller with the heels on as the short and annoyed raccoon guided her. Rigby took notice that Eileen wasn't being like herself tonight, but he ignored his thoughts as to why.

At Section A6, the dimmed room was pack with people and only some rows were left empty. Therefore, the four sat in the middle row on the left side with Margaret on the edge of the row, Mordecai beside her, Rigby beside him, and Eileen on the other side of Rigby. They got themselves adjusted when Eileen laid on Rigby's shoulder.

"Rigby, you are wearing a very nice tie! I like it!" She started twisting the tie around like she held the world with a string. Rigby was shocked on how Eileen was invading his personal bubble but did nothing of it. Usual he would, but he wanted Mordecai to think that he was getting close to Eileen. That way, Mordecai would never suspect him being gay until he let's his true feelings out. Only problem: when will that 'time' come? Rigby could never really answer that yet.

Rigby sat still and uncomfortable as he looked towards Mordecai, who gave him a thumbs up. Rigby faked a smile and gave a small thumbs up right back. The uncomfortable raccoon then felt Eileen playing with his fur. _Okay… this has gone far enough._ Rigby put on his sweet attitude as to not upset Eileen, even though he didn't care how she felt of him at the end of the day.

"Hey Eileen, can you lay off for a second. You're in my personal bubble."

"Well… I like bubbles!"

_Really Eileen? That's strike number two for lame excuses tonight. She's either desperate for me or I'm wearing some sort of Axe cologne. _

Rigby thought of way to get out of the uncomfortable situation and snapped his fingers.

"Hey Mordecai, you want to go grab some snacks with me before the movie?"

During Rigby's question, Mordecai was laughing at a silly joke Margaret made and noticed that Rigby said something. "Hahaha... Hold on dude, what did you say?" Rigby was annoyed on how Mordecai was too focused on Margaret. He didn't like repeating himself.

"Ugh, nothing Mordecai." Then Eileen butted in.

"Wait Rigby, can I go and get snacks with you?" She gave googol eyes to Rigby, hopefull that he would submit to her cute eyes. Her trick didn't work though as Rigby refused and focused back on the screen. However, the blue jay said the opposite.

"I'll go with you Eileen. Rigby can keep Margaret company for a bit. Hey Margaret, I'm going to get snacks with Eileen. Be right back!" Margaret waved back to them while Rigby tried to utter words to his disagreement of being stuck there. Nevertheless, he was left with Margaret, who was looking away from him.

After a minute of awkward silence, Rigby heard the familiar voice of the ginger haired girl across the theatre. Her voice's pitch was as high as the Eiffel Tower as she sat down with her parents; two seats away from Rigby. She glared at him and gave another raspberry expression. Rigby ignored her as he stared vaguely at the screen. The girl suddenly threw some popcorn at him, which scattered all over his shirt and tie. He looked right back at her with fire in his eyes. However, she acted as if she didn't do anything to him.

"Oh yeah, I'll show you." Rigby picked up all of the popcorn off him and threw it right into her curly hair. He snickered at his victory when Margaret saw what he did.

"RIGBY! What are you doing?"

"This girl was throwing popcorn at me! So I did her a favor and threw some right back."

"You think that I'm a fool, Rigby? Look at her. She looks like she would never hurt a fly. Rigby, you're a pig, you know that?" And just like that she looked away.

Rigby glared again at the back her weird shaped head. He never really did get along with Margaret. Never had, never will.

The ginger girl threw a popcorn kernel at Rigby to get his attention. "So, your name is Rigby? How silly."

"Yeah and what's it to you, brat?" Rigby continued to look forward.

"Actually my name's not brat. FYI, It's Olivia." She snickered and threw another kernel. "Seems like someone is having a problem with his girlfriend, don't you think?" Rigby peered at Olivia and narrowed his eyes. _Wow, the girl knows a lot of stuff for a young age._ Rigby snorted and got closer to Olivia and said under his breath,

"Well, FYI, she's not my girlfriend. So lay off… brat."

Olivia snorted and ate a huge amount of popcorn at once. They both looked away from each other until seconds later, Olivia threw even more popcorn at Rigby. Rigby was now getting really irritated. He imagined himself tying up the girl on a pole and blasting her away with popcorn. He twisted his body and growled at her.

"Do your parents even know if yo-" he looked over Olivia's head and saw that the parents were actually sound asleep. "You know what, it's ON!" Rigby picked up the popcorn and threw some at Olivia, who returned the favor. It was an epic popcorn war between the raccoon and the ginger girl. There were spectators watching the duel in front and behind the row where it took place. The two were actually getting along as they kept throwing and laughing at each other. During the middle of the conflict, Rigby accidently threw some buttery popcorn behind him; hitting Margaret in the face.

"WHAT THE FUCK RIGBY!" Rigby turned and saw that the popcorn was all over Margaret's dress. Rigby looked back quickly and saw that Olivia had already cleaned herself off and made herself look innocent again. People around them all looked at Rigby, who expected him to help the avian out. But he didn't care if Margaret was upset with him. Margaret started wiping the popcorn away, which the butter was smearing all over her dress.

"RIGBY, WHAT DO YOU GOT TO SAY FOR YORSELF?" Rigby faced Margaret and put on his best smile.

"Gosh Margaret I'm sooo sorry, here, let me give you a hand." Rigby rolled his eyes and asked someone for some napkins and received some.

"NO, I DON'T WANT YOUR HELP. YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH!" Margaret grabbed the napkins from the raccoon and picked some of the popcorn mess off her. Rigby was getting pissed at Margaret's irrational attitude.

"You know what Margaret, I hate it when you do this to me. When something bad happens to you, you act like its no big deal and you forgive whoever has brought harm to you. But when I do something to you by accident, you FREAK OUT AND YELL AT ME!"

Mostly everyone in the theatre heard Rigby and listened in on the commotion.

"WHAT DO YOU EXPECT, PIG? YOU WANT ME TO ACCEPT THE FACT THAT YOU'RE A DOUCHE WHO WILL NEVER GROW UP? WANT ME TO KISS YOUR FEET AND CONGRATULATE YOU ON BEING A COMPLETE GOOFBALL? YEESH, MORDECAI DESERVES A BETTER FRIEND THAN A GROSS AND IMMATURE PIG LIKE YOU!"

"OH REALLY? WELL I THINK I'M GOOD ENOUGH OF A FRIEND TO DO THIS TO HIS 'FARE' AND YET FOUL DATE!" And with that, Rigby snatched the bucket of popcorn from Olivia and dunked the whole bucket on Margaret. The warm butter oozed all over her as she screamed and started to rub the butter off her dress. Some people offered to help her, offering even more napkins, but Margaret told them all to get back. Meanwhile, someone from the top of the theatre yelled,

"HEY RACCOON! What makes you think that you can do that to your girlfriend?" This ticked off Rigby so much. He threw the bucket down and pointed at Margaret and looked up at the stranger.

"She's NOT MY GIRLFRIEND! ALL OF YOU, STOP LOOKING AT ME AND MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!" Rigby stormed by Margaret and walked down the steps. Margaret spoke with harsh voice.

"Don't worry Rigby, you can bet that Mordecai will find out about your intolerable attitude. You'll see." Rigby paused and glared like a mad dog toward Margaret.

"Margaret, you are sooo fake, you know that? I rather be a pig than be you!" Rigby left the theatre without another word.

He stomped down the hallway to the restrooms, thinking of what were to come if that avian told everything to Mordecai.

_Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Mordecai is not gonna like this! All the hard work I put into today, just to impress him, and what do I do? I screw it all up! Gosh, how did I let her get to me? That bitch! Why does she bring so much agony? Why does she have to be… Mordecai's dream girl?... It's not fair!_

Rigby slammed the sink and moaned to himself. _How is he going to react? Will he be pist at me? Will I lose him as a friend? Will I ever catch his heart after this? _Rigby was full of misery and thoughts as he went into one of the stalls and cried to himself.

_Oh Mordecai… I'm sorry dude..._

Minutes passed and Rigby finally got to his feet. He fixed himself up and cleared his eyes. He thought about how today went for him.

_Gosh, today has been a tear-jerking day._ He chuckled to himself as he tried to bring his spirit up. But he knew that he couldn't avoid the inevitable doom that was bound to come, since Margaret hated him so.

Rigby sluggishly headed back to theatre, where the movie had been playing for about twenty-five minutes. He could see all three of them watching the movie, who were amazed at the special effects. Olivia appeared to have gotten another bucket of popcorn. Rigby walked up slowly and stood near Margaret. He was about to scoot on down the row when Mordecai looked at Rigby and commented,

"Hey, where have you been, dude? You've miss the beginning!" Rigby looked up in shock. _Wait, he doesn't know yet?_ Rigby quickly scooted in and sat down, where Eileen laid on Rigby once again, making him feel uncomfortable. He looked at Margaret, since he was confused at the fact that neither Mordecai nor Eileen knew what happened earlier. She didn't look back at him though.

Mordecai got to the edge of his seat as a big explosion happened in the scene. Mostly everyone cheered on the Rocketeer as he saved the girl from danger. Rigby would have cheered too, but he continued to stare at Margaret.

_Wow, she really didn't tell Mordecai what happened! I guess I had her wrong in the first place! She is sincerely a nice and kind avian. _

Minutes passed and the Rocketeer was already saving another chic from the evil prince. Everyone were on the edge of his or her seat in the theatre except for Rigby, Eileen (who was still holding Rigby), Olivia's sleeping parents, and Margaret. Margaret, when Mordecai wasn't looking, peered at Rigby, who also looked back at her. Rigby wanted to show his appreciation and gave his best smile and thumbs up. He mouthed. "Thank you So Much, I owe you one!"

But Margaret immediately shook her head slowly and lowered her brows. With a cold stare, she mouthed the words,

"I'm Blackmailing you, pig."

And with that, Rigby's smile dropped as great tribulation filled up his soul. He looked straight at the movie, his face showing no expression except for his wide eyes and small pupils. ..._How… how could she?_ The movie showed the evil prince exploding into a thousand pieces as everyone, except Rigby (and Olivia's two parents), stood up and cheered. Rigby watched the scene of the explosion, taking in every detail, as it felt like this was happening inside of him. He felt like his whole world exploded as he stared deeply into the film. While everyone continued to cheer during the movie, no one paid attention to Rigby as he zoned. He was lost in his worrisome thoughts._ Is she really gonna screw up my friendship with Mordecai? She wouldn't dare to! I'd tear her into pieces! _His fists slowly clenched as he bit his bottom lip.

* * *

><p>After the roof-raising movie, which ended in another explosion, everyone were getting up and starting to head out. Eileen was already gone to the bathroom before it ended, so Rigby took his time getting up. He looked and saw that Margaret and Mordecai were already at the bottom, leaving ahead of him. Rigby sighed and got to his feet. He saw Olivia trying to get her parents up from their seats, since they were still sleeping. Olivia looked somewhat sad.<p>

_Huh, why would she be sad? She helped screw up my night. And yet, something's telling me to talk to her. Should I? Maybe she's not that bad of a person after all, compared to someone I know. _He looked back at the parents and struck a conversation with Olivia.

"Whoa, are your Parents still asleep?" Olivia noticed Rigby and continued to nudge her parents.

"Ugh, yeah. They've been working all day. They were fortunate enough to go see a movie tonight with me…" She paused and looked directly at him. "Actually, do you mind helping me with them?"

"Well, FYI, you could just throw something at them to wake them up. That's how my best friend wakes me up." Olivia took in the advice and picked up the extra some extra popcorn. "Thanks."

_Humph, nothing left to say, I guess… _Rigby started to head out when Olivia spoke out.

"You know, you shouldn't let Margaret get to you. I can tell you have that fighting spirit." Rigby froze and slowly turned back. Olivia continued. "I bet you can overcome her blackmailing scheme. Besides, blackmailing in my book is soooo lame. Just don't let her win, okay?" Rigby was shocked at how the girl knew so much about his situation.

"Wait, did you see what she was mouthing to me?"

"Oh sure. 'I'm blackmailing you, pig.' *Pfft* you know, she looks like a nice avian at first, but I never trust someone by first appearances. I mean,... just look at me." She started throwing some popcorn kernels at her parents, which were waking them up slowly. Rigby was impressed with the girl's advice, yet confused.

"Why are you acting so nice to me?" Olivia turned back at him and smiled.

"I'm only nice to those who are trying to be true to themselves. Not those who 'act' like someone they are not. Besides, you seem like a very honest raccoon and I admire you for that. Someday, I want to be me and have people who like me for me. But until then, I'm going to keep getting what I want by acting innocent." She finally got her parents to wake up and started acting all cute and sweet again. Rigby gave a smug and walked away from the three.

_Oh, the irony of it all… _

She didn't know of his secret interests. That's what was so ironic.

On his way out, he felt a small popcorn kernel hit the back of his head, which interrupted his thoughts. He turned around and saw that the three, including Olivia, were gone.

* * *

><p>Later that night, the four went out of the theatre to the outside, where the stretched clouds covered the moon. It was around 10:42 and Eileen was calling her dad to let him know that they were coming to <span>Spaghetta's<span>. Mordecai was so excited about going. He hollered,

"SPAAAGHETTAAA'S!" Rigby joined in and yelled with him. Margaret giggled and smiled sweetly.

"I love the part where the prince exploded!" She eyed towards Rigby and said slowly, "That was my favorite!" Mordecai exclaimed,

"Really? That was my favorite part too!" Mordecai smiled brightly as Rigby just snorted to himself. Eileen stumbled back, with her high heels, and told them that the tables were ready and set.

"Cool then, we'll see you guys there!" Margaret gave a wink and waved to Mordecai. Mordecai felt as if his insides were melting. Eileen eyed Rigby and gave a wink too. "See you there Rigby!" She blushed and the two groups departed.

While Mordecai and Rigby walked to Pop's car, Mordecai rocked his head up and down while fist pumping the air. He noticed that Rigby was sort of slumping.

"Come on Rigby! Were going to have and awesome dinner with Margaret and Eileen! Aren't you EXCITED? Wait a second... I know what's wrong with you… you're tired from the movie, right? Come on, dude, wake up and join me!" He continued to do his victory dance.

Rigby really wasn't in the mood, but he couldn't let down his friend.

_Rigby. You gotta focus, man. Besides, Mordecai is dating the one he has always wanted to be with, even though you disagree. Don't break his spirit, man. You got to show that you care! You are always there for him and this is not the time to stop!_

Rigby brought himself together and pulled enough energy to dance with Mordecai all the way to the car. They drove off the parking lot and stopped at a stop light. Coincidently, the girls were already in front of them, waving behind and giggling. Mordecai waved back to Margaret and Rigby faked a smile and waved to Eileen. When the stoplight turned green, Mordecai sat back down and drove behind the girls.

"Dude, I haven't been this happy in ages. I feel like... me and Margaret were always supposed to be… together. You feel that way about Eileen?" Rigby looked off to the side, hiding his mundane expression.

"Oh, yeah. Sure."

Rigby could see Margaret in the driver's seat and Eileen in the passenger's seat. He noticed that Margaret was giving the same cold stare directly at him when she had the chance. Like another Olivia, Rigby gave back the same glare towards her. He was determined not to let this avian get to him, even if she was blackmailing him.

_Oh, this calls for war. She'll never break me from Mordecai and I won't let her. Never had, never will. _

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading the story so far! Sorry for the long delay but I've been really busy lately and I needed to get school stuff done with. But anyways, PLEASE leave Reviews and comments! (Even if you don't like the story.) I want to know what all of you think so far. Trust me; it's going to get better! :) <strong>

**All characters belong to Regular Show, not mine. **

**Familiar products and places are not mine either.**


	5. Chapter 5: Night at Spaghatti's

The cool breeze danced on her shoulders as Eileen gazed at the streets. Rays of light shined down on the pavement while people strolled down the city streets, scavenging the shops for products and goods. At some Mexican restaurant, she saw a couple kissing; their mouths enveloping one another like they were practicing French kissing. She immediately looked away in disgust and stared at her own reflection on the side view mirror. She kept thinking of how to impress Rigby even more tonight at her dad's restaurant, Spaghatta's. Different scenarios kept popping into her mind, but she mainly imagined herself kissing Rigby; feeling the fur from the top of his lips as she becomes loss from the embracement of his love. Yeah, the thought in her opinion was a little over the top, but she always wanted to kiss someone as short and kind like herself. And Rigby was the man.

Minutes passed and while she was cruising with Margaret in the Beetle car, Eileen kept mesmerizing the sky. She gazed upon the stars that formed shapes and sizes due to her imagination. She was able to detect a heart in the faintly lit sky; with some stars in the middle of the imaginary 'heart'. This 'image' from the sky reminded her of something that happened this morning; and yet she didn't want to discuss it with anyone, especially Margaret. She held her emotions back and gazed at Margaret, who was to the left of her.

_Gosh… she's so pretty… I can see how and why he likes her… but me…_ Eileen looked back at the side view mirror and examined herself. She lowered her eyes down and sighed under her breath.

_I can never compare to Margaret's looks… oh Rigby…_

Eileen kept casting looks over at Margaret and realized that the avian was staring at her front mirror. She guessed that Margaret was looking at Mordecai and Rigby, who was trailing behind their beetle car. So the curious beaver glanced behind her and noticed that Rigby was squinting right at Margaret. Just by the look of it, she could tell that he looked ticked off.

_Huh, that's weird…Why would he be giving dirty looks toward Margaret? I don't ge… _Without warning, the 'image' that she neglected earlier came back to haunt her. She sadly relived and felt the moment of what happened at the coffee shop this morning.

* * *

><p>She remembered herself lifting that crumpled up and rusty napkin, from the seat where her beloved one sat at, and gaping at the sight of jagged marks on the coffee stained table. The deep marks were shaped like a heart and the 'heart' surrounded two letters and a plus sign. It only took a couple of letters to break down Eileen's heart into pieces.<p>

'M+R'

Eileen froze there and dreaded from the sight. Her legs wobbled and her eyes widened. She wished that she hadn't seen it at all. But the possible, secret relationship popped into her cautious self thought as she came up with a sudden conclusion.

'_Margaret + Rigby'_

…_but… but… why? Why would he do this to me? Why would Rigby do that to him? Would she try to take my man? I don't… I d-_

* * *

><p>"Hey Eileen, do we take a right or left here? I forgot."<p>

Eileen opened her eyes and saw that they were approaching a stoplight. They were at Richards Road and were supposed to cross over to Dilly Road.

"Ummm, go to your left."

"Thanks Eileen, I don't know what I would have done without you!"

Margaret pulled over to the left turning lane and turned on the blinker. Eileen fumbled with her thumbs and stared at them. Ever since this morning, she's been dealing with the thought that her best friend could be going for Rigby, or he was going for her. But she wasn't a hundred percent sure of this. Nevertheless, she didn't want to ignore the possibility.

She felt her make-up plastered face and then looked at Margaret's flawless face. Even her beak was shiny perfect. Eileen was frustrated at the fact that she tried so hard to impress Rigby with her looks and make-up, yet Margaret was still prettier.

"So Eileen, I'm so grateful that your father opened the place for us tonight. That's very sweet of him."

"Yeah, he's the best!" She looked off to the side. "Ummm… Margaret, can I ask you something?"

Margaret regained focus after staring at the front mirror. "Yeah, what is it Eileen?"

Eileen fumbled with her thumbs again. "Well… you know that I like Rigby, right?"

"Ummm… yeah. We've talked about this before. Don't you remember?"

"Well… yeah, but…" Eileen hesitated but then spoke out, "What do you think about him?"

Margaret looked forward and grimaced at the thought of Rigby. She couldn't stand who the raccoon was. In fact, she never understood why Eileen liked him in the first place. In her opinion, Rigby was an immature freak of nature who needed to grow up and stop acting like a fool. She wanted to make the raccoon suffer from being so obnoxious to her, ever since the first time she met him in middle school and what he did to her then. (But that's a story for later…) She only acted nice to Rigby only if Mordecai was nearby, since she didn't want to tick off Mordecai and hurt his feelings.

Ever since that time she heard that voicemail from Mordecai's butt dialing, talking about him and her falling in love and such, she knew that he was in love with her. (Butt dialing episode.) But… she didn't feel the same way about him… yet. She found it fun pulling on the innocent bird's strings. However, this didn't mean she was making Mordecai a fool. She just wanted to get close to him too because Mordecai was very special to her. The only problems that she had with Mordecai were that she's use to dating tough guys, not a softy, and that Mordecai was best friends with the one she hated.

The beautiful avian put on a fake smile and spoke with an optimistic tone of voice,

"I think Rigby is alright Eileen! He's perfect for you! You two were meant to be together." Margaret lied to her, only to hide her true feelings about Rigby.

Eileen blushed but then was troubled at how Margaret said it.

_That kind of sounded… sarcastic… They better not act like they're not in love or… I'll… _

She looked away from Margaret and looked upon the streets again, with worrisome eyes. She wouldn't know what to do if the 'secret' relationship was true. But all she could do was hope that Rigby could see the true beauty over her make-up plastered face.

* * *

><p>Mordecai was jamming out to rock songs from <span>Fist Pump <span>while driving behind their dates. He looked over at Rigby and saw him slouching and staring forward. The raccoon looked a little ticked and at the same time very tired.

"Come on Rigby, rock with me Dude!"

Rigby snapped out of it and looked directly at Mordecai. "Oh, sorry man... To tell ya the truth, I'm not really feelin'… it."

Mordecai reached over and twisted the knob to lower the music volume. _Rigby not rocking out? That's weird. _

"You alright dude? I'm starting to think something's bothering you."

"Nah man, I'm alright, just been zoning a lot. That's all." Mordecai turned his head back forward and stared at the back of the beetle. He contemplated on what's really wrong with Rigby.

_Gosh… Rigby and I are finally out on an actual 'group' dates with Margaret and Eileen… and he... I… I know something's not right with him… He never zones this much in a day, especially during a special night like this…_

Mordecai glanced back at Rigby and noticed that he was still staring forward in the same position.

_What's he staring at? _Mordecai locked his eyes forward and could only see the beetle with Eileen looking at the sky and the back of Margaret's head.

(Due to his position, Mordecai could not see Margaret glaring at Rigby, since the front mirror of her car was in a position that obscured Mordecai's vision from seeing her eyes.)

From what he could see, Mordecai guessed that he was staring down Eileen.

_Does… he have a problem with Eileen? Huh… weird…_

After a while of awkward silence and the low music playing, Mordecai decided that he should be saying something to help alleviate the awkward situation. He breathed in and out as they stopped at a stop light.

"Ummm… hey Rigby. You know if there's anything you ever wanna ask me, then say what's on your mind. No matter what, I will totally support you dude... ok?"

Mordecai got Rigby's attention as he flashed back to Mordecai. The raccoon started to get nervous as he began to ponder if he should tell what's really going on between him and Margaret? Or/and his secret feelings for his 'true love'?

Mordecai kept glancing back and forth between the road and Rigby while he drove, waiting for a response, whilst Rigby got lost in his thoughts. He couldn't help but to gaze at Mordecai's mesmerizing eyes.

_Anything?... 'Mordecai, I LOVE YOU! Margaret is a Selfish BITCH!'…Imagine myself saying that to him?… Would he really… Humph… he wouldn't understand. He probably would get mad at me anyways, no matter what I say. Everything would be ruined for me if I told... No… I'm not risking anything right now. _

He sighed and looked down at his white tie. But _what should I say? He's waiting for me to say something! Oh wait, I got it! _Rigby put on his snazzy face and played with his tie.

"I've been thinking of what tie to wear on our next date with Eileen and Margaret. But, I can't think of anything good enough to wear compared to this tie right here!" He pointed to his tie. Mordecai glanced down and saw Rigby posing with his white and shiny tie. He smiled and lowered his eyes down at the snazzy raccoon.

_Rigby, the show-off. He does look dashing with that tie on though. But… what tie color or style would he look better with? _

"Well, you could wear a…" Mordecai looked off to the side and started thinking of colors. _Orange? I can see that color on Rigby._ He then speculated Eileen, who was still gazing at the stars. He came up with the idea for a tie as he exclaimed,

"Oh dude! What about an orange colored tie with yellow stars on it?"

Rigby put on a confused face to Mordecai's advice.

"Ummm, dude… that is so GAY!" Rigby started to laugh and soon Mordecai realized how ridiculous his suggestion was and started laughing with him. After a while, they settled down. Mordecai wiped a tear off and breathed out.

"Whew, man. I can really picture you wearing that! That would be hilarious dude! But seriously, maybe a nice orange tie would do you some good."

"Nah man, I think that a red tie would do well for me."

Mordecai shrugged and then shook his head in agreement. He didn't really care what tie color Rigby chose. He was just happy that he was able to make Rigby laugh. When Rigby was happy, Mordecai was happy.

Rigby sighed and looked off to the side. He was still was worried about Margaret telling Mordecai of what happened at the theatre. Nevertheless, he knew that laughing and spending time with Mordecai, his best friend, was a good way to stop his glaring game towards Margaret. Besides, if they are all sitting at the same table tonight, then there would be a less likely chance of Margaret telling of what happened at the theatre.

He reaches over to the knob and turns up the rock music. Mordecai flashes at Rigby's sudden comeback as the raccoon started fist pumping.

"LET'S ROCK MORDECAI!" So, Rigby and Mordecai rocked out to the music shouting, "FIIIIIIISSSST PUUUUUMP!" while throwing their fists in the air.

Eventually, they turned around a corner and drove into the parking lot of Spaghatta's.

* * *

><p>The first thought that crossed their mind was… <em>Whoa, this place is crowded.<em> Fancy cars were parked everywhere, taking up most of the spaces as each car was parallel row by row to the white lines. When Mordecai and Rigby were able to park, they could see a huge crowd of waiting customers in front of the entrance.

The two went up and waited at the entrance doors, standing away from the crowd and keeping their own space. Far off from the distance, they could hear Eileen shouting,

"HEY YOU GUYS! WE'RE COMING!"

They examined Eileen stumbling with her heels again and Margaret sort of supporting her while walking behind. The avian shouted,

"Hey Mordecai! Long time no see!" She giggled at her own joke. Mordecai hesitated a little and laughed at the joke she made.

"H… hey Margaret! Yeah, long time no see!" Mordecai went up and greeted her and Eileen, while Rigby, putting on his 'I care' act, tagged along. Eileen waved towards him and then, once again, 'tripped'. Nevertheless, she was caught by the 'lucky' raccoon. Rigby sighed and rolled his eyes while Eileen blushed. "Gosh Rigby, I'm so Clumsy, ain't I?"

"Oh yeah Eileen, you sure are quite the catch!" She giggled and blushed even more while Rigby gave a huge fake smile. _Ok, someone please kill me for making that joke._

Margaret and Mordecai helped Rigby with Eileen as they all got themselves situated. While waiting in line for their reservations to be checked, Rigby stared at Margaret and tugged her dress. Margaret looked down at the annoying raccoon.

"Yes Rigby, what do you need?"

"Margaret, we need to talk for a second. You don't mind, right?"

Margaret grunted and went off to the sides with Rigby while Mordecai and Eileen held their spots in line. Rigby motioned her to stop and brought his brows down.

"Margaret… *sigh*… look. I want us to forget about what happened earlier and move on. But if you still insist on telling Mordecai about what happened, I'll tear you do-"

Margaret chuckled and gave him a cold grin. "Oh Rigby. I might tell or not, but you can't do anything about it, now will you? *Pssh* besides, you're such a waste of time. So… why should I waste my breath on a matter about you?" She smirked and scuffed at his feeble warning. Rigby clenched his fists while his teeth grind each other.

"Just understand that you've been warned, bitch." And with that statement, he stomped away from her and went back in line, where Eileen held onto Rigby's arm with confidence. Margaret soon followed back and ignored Rigby's ticked off face.

When the host allowed them to enter after waiting in line, all four of them walked past the crowd of people and pushed the crimson glass doors that lead to the inside. The restaurant had a warm feeling to it as the smell of Italian pizza and spaghetti settled all over the room. The lights were set low and dim while golden light bulbs, attach to a cord, hung above the dining tables. The gold colored walls were covered by French and Italian paintings while wine was stacked upon one another on the wooden drools. The carpet, seats, and the employees were all wearing crimson red with some sort of golden color. And to top it all off, Italian music were playing in the background to help accommodate the Italian culture of the restaurant.

When they walked in, Eileen told them to wait a sec as she went to the back of the restaurant and entered the hidden kitchen. A couple of minutes passed and she finally came out with her dad, a very polite and well-mannered mole who was tall yet skinny. He wore round glasses, a dark suit and management badge. The two walked up and greeted the other friends.

"Hello, I'm Eileen's father, Roger, and welcome to Spaghatta's! I'll be happy to show you to your tables." He looked down and examined Rigby.

"You must be Rigby. It's very nice to meet you sir!" Rigby continues his 'caring' act and shook hands with Roger. Then Eileen stood near Rigby and lends out her hand, as to where Rigby rolled his eyes but kept his act up as he held her hand. All four of them followed Roger to their tables. While walking down the carpeted floor, they avoided eye contact from all of the other fancy and wealthy diners, who stared them down and snorted.

Roger gladly presented them their table, which was only about 3 feet wide and 3 ½ feet long. Mordecai knew that this table was too small for the four of them.

"Mr. Roger, we all can't fit on this table. Is there… another table that we could use?"

"Yes, Mordecai, it's actually over there with those 'for two' booths. As of right now, you two can sit here and the other two can sit over there. I'm very sorry for the coincidence, but it's too crowded here for all four of you to sit at one table. This isn't a problem for you, right?"

"Ummm…" Mordecai realized that he was going to have to sit with Margaret… alone. Even though he was nervous, he was shouting for joy in his head. _YES! My chance to be alone with her! _He turned towards Margaret and only gave a smile, who also smiled back.

Eileen grabbed Rigby's shoulder before the troubled raccoon could protest. She commented,

"It's fine Dad. Rigby and I can sit at the booth! And you two can sit here. Thanks again Dad!"

She immediately started pulling on Rigby's hand towards their reserved booth. Rigby resisted a little and glanced back. He saw the two birds, one of them calm and the other obviously nervous, settling themselves at their table.

_Oh no, oh no, oh shit! This can be Margaret's perfect chance to tell Mordecai of what happened! _

Rigby blurted, "WAIT!" and pulled out of Eileen's forceful motives. He jogged to Margaret and Mordecai and stopped at their table. The two birds both looked at Rigby as they saw him stagger up and fix himself.

"Hey guys! I think we can all sit on this table, right? We can make it work out. Right dude?"

Rigby took second glances at Mordecai, who started giving secret signs that expressed, 'No, please let me sit with her alone.' Rigby could see the pleading eyes Mordecai were giving and understood how badly he wanted this opportunity. Rigby looked back at the both of them, sighed and slowly patted the table.

"Actually, what am I saying? We all can't fit at this table. So, you two enjoy your me-" and before he could finish, he was suddenly pulled back by Eileen, who seemed stronger and more ticked off. Rigby looked upon Mordecai, who gave him a 'thumbs up', and then at Margaret, who gave him the cold stare with an evil grin. She mouthed, 'Don't worry, pig" and looked back at Mordecai. Rigby could only moan in displeasure as he arrived at the booth with Eileen, about thirty feet away from the two love birds.

* * *

><p>With his hand holding his face up and eyes shifting between Eileen and the birds, Rigby groaned and drank some of his tea. He fiddled with his stale straw while Eileen continued to talk about political aspects on saving the environment and possibly promoting a new budget plan. Rigby didn't care what she had to say about political stuff, but he tried listening to Margaret's and Mordecai's conversation; which was very difficult due to the distant space between them. He could only pick out specific words and laughs that were exchanged to each other and it seemed like they were having a great time. Nevertheless, Rigby could see Mordecai's nervousness, since he's been best friends with him for so long. He's been able to pick up some of Mordecai's issues when he looks or feels different. The obvious shaking hands, his feet shifting in and out, and his brow that twitched about every forty-five seconds. Rigby, of course, wasn't weird of knowing this, but he was always interested in the 'one' he longed for.<p>

The curious raccoon looked closely at Mordecai's face and examined how his feathers gleamed from the light above him. He zoned and imagined himself taking Margaret's place at the table. His imagination drove him to believe that he was sitting at the table, looking forward and seeing the avian who would have greeted him with a gentle kiss on his head. The fantasy he had pictured himself talking to Mordecai and the both them laughing and having a good time. No, he didn't imagine himself acting like a girl, like Margaret, but he was just being himself. The two of them held hands across the table while Rigby blushes from his infatuation for Mordecai. He looks around and sees all sorts of people smiling back and not judging who they were. When he turns back to stare at Mordecai, a female beaver's face pops in front of him.

"Hey Rigby, are you listening to me? I'm about to get to a good point! Since I've been reading those books on the theories of solving the market crisis, I've found one that really suits the key idea of fixing the economy. You want to hear it?"

Rigby's fantasy dream was already gone as drool was coming out of his mouth. Rigby snapped out of it and quickly flashed back to reality with Eileen, who greeted him with a cheesy grin. Rigby blinked a couple of times and finally settled his napkin on his lap quickly. He put his arm forward on the table and supported his head once again.

"Ok Eileen, tell me about it." In truth, Rigby had no idea what she just said, since he only focused on Mordecai before. Eileen talked for a straight five minutes about an economist named Paul Krugman and how his 'Alien Theory' would help the economy. Rigby only got the first couple of words before he glanced back and forth again.

Minutes passed and while Eileen started talking about the making of coffee, Rigby peeked at the two birds, whom have just gotten done ordering their meals. He looked at Margaret and he automatically started to worry about the blackmailing scheme once more.

_Is she gonna tell? If so, when? _

Simple questions with no answers bobbled his head before the waiter from the other table headed over to him and Eileen. Rigby couldn't see Margaret any more, in account of the waiter who've obscured his vision of her.

The waiter had a nice crimson red vest on with a golden tie. He wore a badge and had a simple and yet messy black mustache and beard. He was bald and his skin on his head tends to have a shiny reflection from the hanging light bulbs from the ceiling. He spoke with a raspy Italian voice.

"Good afternoon you two. I am Gasparo and I will be taking care of you tonight. It appears that you have already gotten your drinks from the manager, so I suppose you two are ready to order?"

Eileen fixed her glasses and beamed at the menu.

"Yes, ummm… can I get the… ummm… Oh Rigby, what should I get? The nine inch white pizza or the cheesy parmesan?"

Eileen looked upon Rigby, who was trying to look around Gasparo and spy on the two birds again. The mole tapped his leg with her high heels and got his attention.

"Rigby! Please help me decide what to get! I can't decide!"

Rigby rolled his eyes and glanced at his menu, lowering his brow. He was really getting annoyed by Eileen always involving him in her situations/problems because she was only trying to get closer to him. But he wanted nothing to do with Eileen. He just wanted to be friends with her… just friends.

He moaned and glared at Eileen while his eyes twitched.

"Hmm, maybe you should get the FREAKIN CHEESY PAR-ME-SAN!" And with that intolerable tone, Rigby flipped the menu to cover his annoyed expression. People around them, except for Mordecai and Margaret, glanced at them and were rumoring on what had just occurred. Gasparo coughed the word 'embarrassing' and stood back from the irritated raccoon. Eileen, on the other hand, began to worry for Rigby yet she agreed with Rigby's choice and drew her arms closer to herself. Gasparo grabbed Eileen's menu and slanted his eyes upon the raccoon, who was buried within his menu.

"And… sir? What would you want for tonight?" Rigby slowly raised his head and turned his head up at the waiter. Frustrated as he was, Rigby slammed the menu on the table and grumbled,

"I'll have the spaghetti and meatballs. And make it cheesy please." He then reached for his tea and started slurping it down like a leech. Gasparo grabbed his menu and left without another word.

Eileen stared down Rigby from across the table as she could see him ticked off and at the same time looking to his right again. Eileen knew that Rigby kept looking over at the two love birds but she was trying her hardest to distract him from Margaret. The more Rigby kept looking over, the more Eileen believed that something was really going on between the two of them. And it was killing her heart; killing it softly.

Minutes passes and Rigby and Eileen weren't necessarily saying much to each other. They looked around in different directions and Rigby was tapping the table like a wood pecker. Eileen, as desperate as she was, was thinking about what to say while Rigby was too busy looking over at Mordecai and Margaret.

When Rigby glanced over at Margaret for the fiftieth time, he saw that the avian was staring him down like a hawk. While Mordecai was looking at something else, she pointed at Rigby's face and mouthed,

"Filthy pig." Then she turned back to her original position, acting like nothing had happened.

Rigby squinted his eyes as his veins popped. He gritted his teeth before he heard Eileen spoke out to him.

"Ummm… Rigby, who are you looking at?" Rigby glanced back at the curious mole and fixed himself up.

"Nothing Eileen, just nothing…." He sat there awkwardly with his feet curling underneath the table as he looked off to the side again. But Eileen was staring at him dead on as her eyes started to rise with tears. She couldn't handle the fact that he keeps looking over at Margaret. The depressed mole turned away and glared at Margaret. Her face changed from sorrow to anger as she looked down at the carpet and closed her eyes. Eileen then wiped her tears away and slowly turned herself back forward, just when Rigby had finally got done staring down Margaret. He spoke out,

"Pssh, how long do we have to wait to get our… food?" The mole had some tears flowing down her face as she wiped them and acted like nothing was wrong. Rigby examined Eileen's condition, as he could obviously tell that something was bothering her. _But what?_ He felt so awkward seeing her this way; and the worst part of it all was that he didn't know what to do. So, Rigby slowly tapped the table and was glancing up and about, trying to think of something to say to stop the incompetent situation.

"Heh heh… So um… you wanna…" immediately just when he said that, Gapsaro, the waiter, was already putting the main courses down in front of them.

"Spaghetti and meatballs, with Extra Cheese, for you! And a cheesy parmesan for you Eileen. Will you be needing anything else for now?"

Rigby looked at Eileen for a response to Gasparo, but she was looking down at her lap and sniffling a little. He tried to get a glimpse at her face but it was covered up by the food in front of her. Rigby motioned for Gasparo to leave and settled up his napkin.

_Hmm… she's probably just tired from all the talking she's committed. I think it's best if I don't say anything to offend her. Oh well._ He shrugged and took a bite out of his meatball. He then heard some more sniffling from the discouraged mole.

*sniffel* "Rigby…" she spoke weakly, "can I ask you… something?" She looked up and her eyes were drowning in tears. The waves of her sorrow were smearing her make-up as she kept wiping them away in effort to hide her sadness. Rigby was disheartened at the sight of this. Even though he wasn't in love with her, he didn't want her ever to be sad.

"Eilleen, what's wrong? Did I do so-" but she dramatically stopped him on his words.

"NO! Stop pretending you care, Rigby! I know about your secret and I'm tired of being a cover-up!"

Rigby gulped as he started getting nervous from what she was saying.

_What? She doesn't know! I… there's no way that she knows!..._

"Hold on a second Eileen! I do care for you! You need to seriously calm down. I haven't done anything you make you upset with me!"

'Poor choice of words…'

Eileen's sorrowful angry eyes, with rivers of tears flowing down from it, glared down at the raccoon while her glasses seemed to steam a little. Rigby, nervous as he was, has never imagined Eileen getting this furious; in fact, he was sort of frightened by it.

"Eileen, I… Just settle down please, people are watchi-"

Urgently, Eileen grabbed Rigby's unwary arm and tugged him to follow her, which in the fact he didn't dare resist. Their food was the only things that left their table occupied.

* * *

><p>(Fifteen minutes ago.)<p>

"Okay Mordecai, I got another 'knock knock' joke. Okay then, Knock Knock!"

"Who's there?"

"Ice Cream!"

"Ummm… Ice Cream who?"

"Ice cream if you don't let me out!"

Both avians laughed out loud again and Margaret lowered her voice down. Mordecai realized that he was still laughing and settled down quickly. Margaret giggled a little from his awkward laughter and smiled. Mordecai gave a fancy, and yet nervous, grin toward her and quickly started gulping his cola.

_Oh my gosh, Total fail, Mordecai… Ok, think of something else to talk about, mayb-"_

"Hey Mordecai, you haven't made a 'Knock knock' joke yet for me! Come on, I really wanna hear one!" She flashed her eyes at him; her eyelashes unfurling the sparkle in her eyes. Mordecai's heart thumped, like someone slammed their head on a steel wall, at the sight. He would but he's not that original on making jokes under pressure, but he thought of one quickly though.

"Ummm… okay fine. I got one, but I bet you're not going to like it."

"Okay Mordecai, try me."

"Umm… Okay then, Knock knock."

"Who's there?"

"Umm… Boo!"

Margaret raised a brow. "Boo who?"

"Don't cry, it's only a JOKE! OOOOOOOOHH!" And Mordecai made an enthusiastic laugh and held his head up. He dried his eyes and glanced at Margaret. She was making no sort of laugh or noise but only a mundane stare and squinted eyes. Mordecai died down his laugh, just like his joke. He started sweating and he pulled his collar.

"Heh… *sigh* Yeah, that was so lame." He lowered his eyes and succumbed to the feeling of defeat. He then heard a giggle and looked up. Margaret was shaking her head with a smile.

"Oh Mordecai, it wasn't that bad. It's just kind of… obvious. We'll work on it" She winked and started searching her purse for something. Mordecai froze and in thought as he unraveled his napkin, revealing his silverware, and put it on his lap.

_Did she say 'We'll work on it'? YES, still in the game baby!_

He said "Score Baby!" under his breath while pulling his fist down, like he just scored a point in a ping pong game. He fixed himself up and looked around the restaurant for a sec. He saw Rigby looking bored as hell listening to Eileen talk.

_Gosh Rigby, at least try to be happy. Hmmm… He must be bored out of his mind though. _

He shrugged and looked to his right. From all the fancy people and couples there, there were two of them that sort of stood out that caught his eyes. It was two guys talking in a booth, near the dark-shaded windows, who were an otter-person and dog-person. They were wearing very nice suits and were chatting quite a bit. Mordecai figured the two were business partners, until he spotted rings on their left ring fingers. Then they were holding hands and staring contently at each other's eyes. Then the otter and gave a small kiss on the dog's face. Mordecai continued to stare at the two, with his eyes wide open.

_Wow… those dudes are so gay for each other! That's so… that otter got some guts to do that in here… _Mordecai looked around and saw some people offended from the two kissing. Mordecai shook his head in disagreement to the disgusted audience and turned back at the couple.

_Damn… They must have huge balls to kiss in a nice restaurant like this, full of rude and fancy people. That's… what I call 'true love'. _Then suddenly the two of them kissed for a longer period of time while the spectators looked away.

But Mordecai smiled and continued to watch the two guys while Margaret got her phone out of her overstuffed purse. She noticed Mordecai and looked at his direction. She saw what the guys at the table were doing across the restaurant and she looked back at her phone in disgust. She lowered her brow and grunted.

"Ugh… that's just so wrong. I really did not have to see that." She began texting to one of her friends on her phone and Mordecai blinked out of his stare.

"Wait… what? Margaret, you don't like the idea of... you know…" he whispered, "homosexuality?"

Margaret clicked her phone, sending the text message, and looked back up at the confused blue jay. She spoke out loud like it was no deal, instead of keeping it on the down low.

"Yeah, I don't like gay people. Is that a problem?"

Mordecai startled back from his seat but remained calm and collective on his outside appearance. But inside his mind, he was freaking out.

_Oh shit Margaret! Gosh… now I can never tell her the truth about me also having interests in dudes or she'll totally dislike me. Ugh… great._

"But… why Margaret? I'm not supporting them or anything but I would like to know your… ummm… philosophy." He realized his different word choice that he would commonly never use, yet he made a nervous grin and scooted himself toward table. Margaret looked back at the two gay men and rolled her eyes.

"Well to be honest, they are obviously confused. Men are only supposed to go with women and not with the same sex. Vice versa for girls too. It's just… not normal… our God says it's an abomination in the bible and I have to agree with that. It's a sin and it really shouldn't be allowed in our culture. There are those who disagree and say that you can be gay and still worship God, but I… I don't think he will open the gates of heaven for them. But that's just in my opinion." She paused and dialed a number on her phone before continuing. "You know, there are those recovery centers where people can change and be able to follow in Jesus' footsteps and lead a non-sinful lifestyle." Margaret grabbed her water and startled sipping it down, texting her friend at the same time.

Mordecai held his fists underneath the table as his flinched a little. He kept his cool even though he realized that his dream girl had totally neglected the idea of homosexuality. He lowered his eyes and acted like everything was cool.

"Ummm… you have a really great point there! Heh… it… um… it makes since! Um a… What religion do you worship?"

"Oh, I'm just a Christian, but I don't judge other God-believers. We're all a family, right?" She smiled and checked her phone again. Mordecai nodded and drank more of his cola. He looked off to the side and saw the two gay lovers starting to head out. They were holding hands and leading one another out the door, while disgusted spectators eyed them.

Mordecai sat there, staring at his cup and was thinking about what just happened. He then started debating with himself on the idea of religion against homosexuality.

_Wait… __can__ someone who's gay still worship Christianity or any other religion? If they do, then why do people in the 'family' still neglect them as fellow 'Christians'? It makes… no since to me. How is God's love 'unconditional' when people who work in the church disapprove for those who have different love interests? Aren't they supposed to 'spread' the love of Christ instead of discriminating those who try to love God? ... Why do they take the Bible so literary? Just… but… Can a gay person be with God and not be discriminated? I… I…_

Mordecai sighed under his breath and looked out the window near of where the two gay men use to sit at. He stared at the sudden rain that was flowing down as he was lost in his own memories and feelings.

In his pastime, Mordecai wasn't an atheist, but he wasn't entirely on the same page as on the beliefs and rules of his past religion, Catholicism. He knew there was a god, but he never felt attached to him since he stopped going to church at the end of sixth grade. Since then, he never put much thought on how his 'interests' would affect how he felt about religion, until now.

The troubled blue jay's train of thought was disrupted as new people were already sitting down at the table that blocked his vision of the window. He decided no to worry about that 'religion' issue, since everyone were entitled to their opinion, and turned his beak towards Margaret. She was still texting her friend, so he fiddled with his fork. After seconds of low keyboard tapping, Margaret closed her phone, pepped up, and smiled brightly at Mordecai.

"So Mordecai, I love how this is going so far! I love just talking to you! Would you want to hang out some other time; maybe playing some mini golf, um… two days from now?" Margaret again looked deeply into Mordecai's helpless eyes as she sweetly smiled at him.

"Um a… yeah! Ok! Mini Golf it is then!"

"Yeah, it's gonna be so mu- *phone beeps*, oh hold on one second please."

Margaret got her phone out and checked on it again. The text message, from one of her other friends, asked, "So, when are you going to ask him out to be your boyfriend?" Margaret replied to the message, saying that she would do it very soon.

At the same time, Gasparo was already putting food down in front of the two birds.

"Here's a 9-inch white pizza for you and an 'Italian volcano island special' for you dear. Would you be needing anything else?"

Mordecai looked over at Margaret and realized the bird was texting at full speed. He bet that Margaret didn't even notice the huge meal in front of her.

"Thank you Gasparo, but we're fine for now." Gasparo took in the notion to leave.

Margaret finished up typing her message down to her friend when some idea, to get herself 'closer' to Mordecai, sparked into her head. She glanced up at the bird, who was eating his pizza, and glanced back down at her phone. She decided act mad at a text message that was sent by her friend.

"ugh… I can't believe he wants me back." Mordecai looks up with wide eyes and yet a mouth full of pizza.

*chew* "Waaht?"

"My ex-boyfriend… he's trying to get back with me. But I won't let him." Mordecai swallowed his pizza in surprise. _She… has no boyfriend? _He beamed with confidence at the opportunity.

"Yeah Margaret, just tell it how it is. You don't need him! Heh… heh…" He rolled his arm around the back of his head in a nervous attempt to hide his feelings.

_I should… no… Yes Mordecai! You've got to ask her before she finds another… like the um… see there was… five, ten, fourteenth, um… twentieth… boyfriend!_

Margaret sat her phone down and stared deeply at Mordecai's nervousness. She could obviously tell what he was thinking.

"Hey Mordecai, I was wondering if you wan-" Mordecai, without hesitation, then blurted out the long-awaited phrase that he's been trying to say to Margaret.

"Margaret, I know this is all of a sudden, but… will you be my girlfriend?" He immediately clapped his beak shut as he sat there, shaking like an earthquake. Margaret was shocked at first at how fast he asked her out. Nevertheless, she lowered her eyes. _Yes, he finally got the balls to ask._

The seductive avian put her feathery hand over his and stared contently through his widening pupils. Mordecai stayed frozen in his place as his eyes widened and his pupils shrunk. Margaret got close to his beak and whispered,

"Knock knock?" Mordecai stuttered,

"Wh…who ther…there?"

"I love…"

"I… I…I… loo…ve who?"

"I love you!" And she gave a slow and graceful kiss on his beak. The kiss felt like it lasted a lifetime as the Mordecai was lost in ecstasy. His body heated up like hell as he rolled his eyes in delight. When she let go of his lips, Mordecai almost fainted and fell off his chair. Margaret looked over the table and saw him quickly got up and fixed his chair. He sat down and stared at his true love's eyes as she stared back. He smiled and said,

"I love you too!" They both got lost in each other's eyes while they ate their food slowly, not noticing that their other friends were away from them. Or, in fact, gone from plain sight.

* * *

><p>(Back to the previous time; a minute after Eileen and Rigby left their table.)<p>

"Eileen! Where are we going?" Rigby kept getting tugged as the pisted off mole pulled him across the kitchen and into a dark hallway. They walked up some carpeted stairs and entered a pitch black and ominous room. He couldn't even see his own hands up in that room. Either way, Rigby was wondering what Eileen was going to do to him. He felt like fighting her back if she dared tried to harm him, but he was mistaken when Eileen dispatched from his arm and flipped a lamp on. The room dimly lit up as Rigby realized that he was in some girl's bedroom; full of old, worn out toys and posters hanging all over the wooden walls. Curtains hung near a small window, with the rain pattering on the edges of it. Rigby looked around as he saw, in great detail, boy posters, few of them apprehend his face as if someone took pictures of him not knowing..

He then looked upon his friend, whose face was covered in dried up tears with smeared make-up. She did not look happy or pist; but she carried a mundane expression as she stared at some of the posters herself. Eileen walked to the entrance and closed the door slowly and softly. The bothered raccoon guessed that she has already calmed down from her dramatic breakdown at the table. He fixed his clothes up and cleared his throat.

"Ummm… I'm guessing this is your room?" Eileen continued to stare vaguely at her posters.

"It was my old room before I moved out. I use to hang posters up all the time on these walls… Back when I was in middle school… I wasn't like the other girls. I… I felt ugly in front of them and I… wasn't treated well." She took a breath, yet she stayed completely still. "I've always seen Margaret put posters of hot guys on her walls. So since she was so popular, I wanted to be like her. So as you can see, I did the same thing… you see, Margaret… was like a role model to me. I've always wanted to be as beautiful as her. But…" She stopped and stared at her dim lamp.

Rigby stood there feeling bad for her. He didn't know what to say. In fact, he couldn't really tell what was really going on with her. But he figured he'd get what she was saying eventually. He took the opportunity of her pausing and continued to look around. He noticed the small tan-ish bed at the corner of the room, which looked old and raggedy and was covered in a layer of dust. Before he could point it out to her, Eileen spoke out after breathing in again.

"Look Rigby,… I'm sorry that I pulled you out like that. I've been struggling with the…" She stopped and struggled with her words. "As you can see, I… really like you Rigby… and I thought I made it obvious for you to understand this… but… you… I know you like someone else more than me…" she went past him and sat on her old, tan bed. She sniffled a little and eventually she began to cry.

Rigby, after hearing her say this, gained back his fearful thought that Eileen had just figured out his secret love for Mordecai. His body quivered from the thought and he hoped that she was talking about something, or someone, else.

_It's impossible that she knows my secret! I haven't told anyone of it and I haven't shown any signs that I'm gay. She's… got to be talking about someone else._

Hesitating at first, he slowly walked over to her and sat right beside her. He looked down on the carpet and put his arm around her to comfort her. She shoved him off and covered her face. She continued.

"You know, I've always wanted to be loved by someone based on who I was, but… I was always overshadowed by Margaret, the beautiful and yet… flawless friend of mine. I would… always try to impress boys with my special talents and such… but I would end up being forgotten when Margaret showed herself. I mean… I'm glad of who she is… but…" she then bawled out even more and cried on Rigby's lap.

Rigby wasn't catching on the idea that she felt ugly since he was in 'love' with Margaret's beauty, instead of her's. Nevertheless, he understood that she was expressing how tired she was being overshadowed by someone. The raccoon stared upon the distressed mole as he thought back on his life; how his younger brother, Don, always overshadowed him. He sort of understood her position. He looked away, feeling sad and yet awkward, and analyzed the posters once again. After a few tear-jerking minutes, Eileen cleared her face and looked at Rigby.

"Rigby, what is it that Margaret has that I don't have? Is it looks? Grace?..."

Rigby glanced back down. "Eileen, what do you me-"

"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, WHY DO YOU LOVE HER?" She mourned even more and brought her head back down in tears.

Rigby's pupils dilated from in shock of what Eileen had asked. _Wait… she thinks I'm in love with that bit**?Whew, at least she doesn't suspect my real secret._

"Whoa, whoa… hold on a sec. I am soooo not in love with that avian! What made you think that?"

Eileen beheld Rigby's comment and glanced up. "Well…*sniffle*, the fact that you've been staring at her all night… and you keep giving her glances. Also… I know that you 'wrote' that message on that table this morning at the coffee shop. No one except you writes like that with a pen. And on the drawing,… I saw 'M plus R' inside a heart. So… I figured you were dating Margaret… right?"

Rigby's mouth shook as he contemplated on what happened this morning.

_Gosh, I'm such an IDIOT! How can I be so Stupid?... I can only blame myself for this, which I obviously don't like doing. Ugh… Should I just I tell her that I'm not dating Margaret and only going for her? No… that's going to end up being an awkward situation, since she'll think that I'm lying to her. Also, if I don't tell her anything, she's going to go ask Margaret of this and then tell Mordecai. And… So… I…*ugh*… Great… I'm going to have to tell her, don't I? _

Rigby breathed in and became nervous. He sweated profusely as Eileen noticed Rigby's change of body stance. Eileen cleared her tears and got herself off the bed.

"Rigby… what *sniffle* is it?" Rigby sighed and lowered his eyes.

"Eileen, can you keep a secret? And… I need you to promise not to tell."

Eileen looked closer into the nervous raccoon and nodded her head slowly. Rigby turned his head and lowered his nose down toward the carpet.

"…I… I did scratch the table and made that symbol this morning… but it didn't mean… 'Margaret and Rigby'… but it meant for… someone else…"

Eileen tilted her head in confusion to what he just said.

"Wait, I don't get it? The way you've been looking at her with Mordecai and… Then what do you me-"

Eileen widened her eyes as she came to a conclusion to where Rigby was heading.

"No… you can't be…" Rigby nodded his head and spoke solemnly,

"It meant…." His quivering eyes filled up with tears as his body shook ferociously.

"Mordecai … and Rigby."

Tears fell down his cheeks as his body turned away from her. Eileen gaped at what Rigby had revealed as she couldn't think of what to say or what to do. She couldn't even fathom the thought of it.

_Rigby's… gay?_ An awkward moment passed as neither on the moved a muscle, except for Rigby's tortured face. Then Eileen uttered the first words that came to thought.

"Rigby… you're lying… tell me you're lying!"

Rigby just sat there without a response. Eileen shook her head, taking that he was telling the truth before. She didn't fully support the idea of homosexuality, since she was always use to hanging with Margaret all the time, and it was difficult that her 'fantasy man' was not into her. She frowned upon him and lowered her brows.

"I would have never… guessed that you were one… Why… does Mordecai know? Because… just to warn you but… I don't think he's… in it for you."

Rigby's head went up, full of attention, as his ears flinched. From behind his back, Rigby was steaming up and was boiling with anger.

_How dare she say that to me! I… I can't believe I told her! She can't keep a secret! How am I supposed to trust her? _He immediately turned around, got in front of her face and ranted out loud,

"**STOP TALKING!** FIRST OF ALL, HE HAS NO IDEA THAT I LOVE HIM, OK? IF YOU DARE TELL HIM, SO HELP ME… NOT EVEN YOUR FREAKING FATHER CAN HOLD ME BACK FROM TEARING YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!"

Eileen stared in horror as Rigby gritted his teeth and made it look like his eyes were popping out of his sockets.

"I BELIEVE THAT MORDECAI AND I WERE ALWAYS MEANT FOR EACH OTHER EVER SINCE I MET HIM. OK? I LOVE MORDECAI! SO WHAT? BIG DEAL!"

Rigby began to consider of what else to yell about to Eileen, as he attempted boast out what he was thinking at that moment.

"BUT AGAIN, YOU BETTER NOT TELL ANYONE! NOT EVEN MARGARET! YOU… YOU KNOW WHAT? YOUR BEST FRIEND IS PROBABLY THE MOST ANNOYING BEING I WILL EVER MEET! SHE IS A COMPLETE BITCH! AND YOU… I'M SORRY BUT I DON'T LOVE YOU AT ALL! YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT AND I NEVER WILL! AND ALSO, YOU'RE RIGHT; WHO WOULD LIKE YOU? I RATHER DATE A THOUSAND MEN AND BE RIDICULED FOR BEING GAY BEFORE DATING SOMEONE AS JUDGEMENTAL AS YOU! SO…"

He struggled to add the last conclusion to his rant. And yet, he yelled at the top of his lungs,

"DON'T JUDGE ME!"

He quickly turned around and cried to himself, wishing that this had never happened, while Eileen was left speechless. This whole new outlook of Rigby's identity had flustered her completely. She felt hurt and destroyed from what he said to her face. She looked away from the crying raccoon and cried to herself as well.

A couple of mournful minutes passed by and Rigby finally cleared his face up. He wiped his tears away and glanced back at the idle Eileen, who wasn't moving a single muscle. Rigby felt bad for yelling at her, but he couldn't control his emotions during that period. He's not use to telling his dark secret to someone. But he knew he had to set things straight with her. Besides, he knew that he was going to see her again anytime soon. He rose up and spoke softly.

"Eileen… I'm sorry for the way I've been acting. I'm *sigh* especially sorry for what I said to you. I've just… lost since of my emotions." He paused and noticed that Eileen hadn't move a bone in her body, yet he continued. "You are way more beautiful than what you think. It's just… I'm not meant for you. Can you forget what-"

"Rigby… I should be the one saying sorry…" Eileen slowly sat down on the bed beside him and fixed her hair. She rubbed her eyes as Rigby waited for what she had to say. She smiled sweetly and fumbled with her thumbs.

"I didn't mean to really say that to you. I also was caught up in the moment." She looked into his eyes.

"But, I know how you feel, sort of…"

Rigby put on a confused face. "Wait… what do you mean? You're not secretly gay too… right?" Rigby raised one of his brows and bent his body back like he was getting ready for another confession. Eileen rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"No Rigby, I'm not interested in girls… it's just that… Ummm… you know when you are trying to get with… Mordecai… and Margaret usually get in your way? Well, I finally realize that feeling today. I was trying so hard to impress you tonight, but it felt like Margaret was already sweeping you off your feet. But I can't imagine dealing with the thought that your secret crush, and yet best friend, is in love with someone else for more than a year!" She giggled a little as Rigby blushed.

"Oh, come on Eileen, you know that if she ever swept me off my feet that I would perform a 360 degree turn in midair and knock her out." He laughed for a bit as Eileen joined on the laughter. The both of them were cheering up from the emotional breakdown as they hugged each other. Eileen looked up at Rigby with cheerful eyes as she asked,

"Rigby, what's different from Mordecai and I that you like about him?"

He paused and thought of a good response, but at the same time not to say anything embarrassing.

"You know… you're a great mole and all and I love how different you are from the rest of us. But the thing about Mordecai is that… we've always been there for each other ever since we met." He started blushing again and was rubbing the back of his head. "He's… good-looking… and smart… and kind… and yet we have still have fun doing crazy things together. He's got a good build and a…" He thought of extra things of which he found Mordecai attractive but he decided not to go into detail. "But anyway, you get what I mean…" He then jump-back to how Eileen felt about as he tried to clear things up.

"Please don't be offended that I've always loved Mordecai more… then you… You'll… you are going to find someone more fit for you then me!" He felt really awkward saying that as he cleared his throat.

Eileen smiled and fixed her curly hair again. "Do you really think that I can find someone better than you?"

Rigby straightened up and replied, "Hey, there's no one better than me… I mean… there's nobo-…" He stumbled on his words as he realized what he said. But Eileen giggled at how Rigby always felt as if no one was better than him. Rigby rubbed the back of his head and laughed at his own flaw. Then he looked onto the cheered up mole.

"So… can we still be friends?"

Eileen wiped a loose tear from her eyes before shaking her head. "You know, I find it sort of cute that… you have a secret crush on Mordecai." She giggled again and poked on Rigby. "It's better that you like him then you liking my best friend… by the way, why don't you like her in the first place?" Rigby snorted and thought back on all the times he didn't get along with that avian. He took his time and explained how he felt toward Margaret, all the times they would glare at each other, all the times when Rigby felt jealous of her taking Mordecai's heart, and he even told about what happened at the theatre and the blackmailing.  
>Eileen laughed at how Rigby described to her his feelings toward Margaret while she clened her face from the plastered make-up. Rigby then told her not to tell anyone about what he's said.<p>

"Oh my goodness. I... I promise not to tell anyone about this, especially Margaret. This can be our little secret. You know what? I want to know more about how you feel for Mordecai, plus even more information on the relationship between you and Margaret." Rigby smiled brightly and rolled his eyes, as she continued.

"So why don't we talk about this back at the restaurant downstairs? I can ask for a reheating of our food, since my dad practically owns this place." She smiled brightly at him as he did the same.

"Yeah, that would be cool dude… I mean dudet!" Eileen giggled and got herself off the bed.

"Oh, and Rigby... I love the idea of us still being friends and all. I guess we can tell each other things without worrying about anyone else judgeing us." She blushed a little and cocked her head to the side. "Thanks for telling me the truth." She smiled brightly, and Rigby smiled right back.

_Wow... for the first time in my life, I can finally talk to her without being uncomfortable. hmm..._

"Yeah, we should totally hang out more often!"

The raccoon got up from the bed and playfully led her out of the bedroom, turning the lights off behind them.

…

Within the dark atmosphere of the deserted room, a small figure floated from behind the curtains and floated out of the room.

* * *

><p>Eileen and Rigby chatted some more while eating their reheated food, which were covered in an over-abundance of melted cheese. Rigby was talking so much of how he felt on different things, using different hand gestures and using overdramatic detail to describe stories of his, that he basically spilled his whole life to her (well, most of it). Eileen got really into the conversation and tittered at some of his jokes. Rigby was so into talking to her that he didn't even look back at Margaret for the rest of the meal.<p>

As for Margaret and Mordecai, they talked about their families and favorite things and such. Apparently, Margaret is a daddy's girl. Her dad promotes nice parties/meetings for the invited and privileged guest from casinos and banks. Even though she comes from a rich background, where her parents were close to being millionaires every year with their paychecks, she said that she always wanted to live a simple life. But she couldn't help it but allow her dad to spoil her sometimes.

"You know, I really want my dad to invite you to a fancy party a month from now! Would you want to go?" Mordecai thought about it and responded,

"Sure! Why not? I bet it's going to be faaanccy!" Margaret gave him a 'you silly' look and pecked him again. He blushed hard red as he drank more of his cola.

An hour passed for the two couples, as they finished up their conversations, and started to head out. It was around 11:32 p.m. and the four of them stood outside near the entrance. The rain had already subsided and the streets literally reflected the light from the 'Spaghatta's' sign. They all got together and made an old man take their picture. Mordecai and Margaret then told the other two about the plans for later. Then Margaret spoke out to Eileen and Rigby about something very important. Especially at Rigby…

"So, Mordecai and I have a surprise to tell ya!" She wrapped her arms around Mordecai as he smiled nervously. But at the same time, he felt like he just won the lottery.

"Uh, yeah, Margaret and I are-"

"We're dating!" And she gave a big kiss on the side of the nervous jay's face. Eileen and Rigby froze there in shock. Rigby felt like his world was shaking. His arms felt heavy and his legs were flimsy. Eileen glanced at Rigby before she spoke out in fake delight.

"OH THAT'S GREAT! COGRATS YOU TWO! Heh…" She stopped and put on a fake smile. She secretly nudged Rigby to do same thing that she was doing. So, while he tried holding all his anger and sorrow in, he faked a smiled at the two love birds; even though he felt like crying at that point. Margaret smiled and clapped her feathery hands together.

"All righty then... We'll meet up two days from now at Mini Golf Arena! It will be fun!" She grabbed Mordecai's anxious arm and pulled her closer to him. "Can you lead me to my car, Mordi-pie?"

Mordecai, who was still sweating like a dog, pulled his chest out and led her toward the bug beetle. Margaret looked back at Eileen and Rigby, who were awkwardly standing there. They were both at a loss of words.

"Hey Eileen and Rigby? Are you coming or what?"

Eileen snapped out of it and yelled back to Margaret, "Give me a sec!" She then pulled Rigby over, who was already filling up with tears.

"Ok Rigby, just… take a deep breath. You can make it through thi-"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I'm… too late! She already gave him a nick name! **A NICKNAME!** I'll never get to him now! It's all my fault… Now they are going to get married and I'm going to be left broken hearted. I've tried being supportive of him but in the end it doesn't matter. I should have tol-" He stopped talking when Eileen placed her finger on his lips.

"Look Rigby, cheer up. I'll… help you try to get your man back, alright?"

Rigby immediately looked up with hopeful eyes.

"You… will?" Eileen raised and fixed him up. She then shrugged and cocked her head to the left.

"Of course I'll help, what are friends for?"

Rigby wiped his tears out and calmed down. "But, isn't Margaret your best friend? If you help break them apart, then yo-"

"Yeah, but I can't let her take away your Mordecai. You were really meant for each other… I guess he just doesn't know it yet. Besides, I bet Margaret won't last that long with him. She… changes from boy to boy often. So, we'll think of something." She winked at him as she finished up fixing him. She then added,

"Oh, and I'm not going to try to impress you ever again." She smiled and Rigby shook his head with his smirk, while with his teary eyes.

"Oh yeah? Well, I'll never try to impress you ever again either! Not even with this tie! Hmm Hmm!"

They both stood there facing each other with cheerful expressions. The raccoon suddenly hugged her.

"Thanks Eileen... for understanding."

Eileen held her eyes shut and embraced the hug. She felt like she can finally talk to someone without be ridiculed for her looks or who she was. Hopefully the two can become best friends since they had nothing to hide or they didn't to worry about dating each other. They stepped from each other and and started walking.

"Hold on Rigby, let me get your tie. It's funny that you can't fix your own tie even though you're wearing one. I'm wondering who fixed it for you?" She eyed Mordecai from afar and looked at Rigby, who smirked while he shrugged. Eileen shook her head and fixed his tie before he led her to the beetle car.

* * *

><p>"Can't you believe it, Rigby? I'm finally dating the girl of my dreams!"<p>

Mordecai honked the horn in excitement as Rigby acted like he was happy for him. They both shouted out, "OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!" before making a wicked turn. The raccoon then gazed back at the streets, with the after-rain wind brushing his fur back.

Rigby really was happy that Mordecai's night went great for him, but he was still emotional hurt at the fact that he could have stopped this 'horrible' relationship from happening. Nevertheless, he wanted to support Mordecai's decision and relationship. Sooner or later though, he wanted to break those two apart.

"So Rigby, you know that were going with Margaret and Eileen to play mini golf, two days from now. So, I find it best to skip ahead and do two days of work on one day, which will be tomorrow. This can lead us to getting fully ready for a day with Margaret and Eileen on the next day."

"WHAT? But I thought we could go and visit that comic store tomorrow like you promise! I really wanted to go with you! This is so not cool dude. You've been on me recently on getting all this stuff done so you can go hang out with Margaret. And I don't feel like I'm being appreciated enough!" He shifted his body and pouted. Mordecai looked up, like he needed a miracle, and sighed.

"Gosh, fine! We'll go to the comic store. But we're still doing most of those chores for tomorrow, dude. Besides, I want to see Margaret again." When he said that, Mordecai imagined himself holding hands with her. The way she felt and how beautiful she was. He couldn't wait to see her again. And yet, he was still troubled on how she hated gay people. _Would I ever tell her that I'm bi? _The thought sort of bothered him a little. However, he ignored it and kept thinking on how great Margaret was to him.

Minutes felt like hours for the raccoon, who was dozing off slowly. Rigby reflected on how his day went and all that happened: dealing with Margaret, telling his secret to the one that loved him, supporting his best friend on something he didn't agree on… he felt like he's been through a lot in the last twenty four hours. Rigby yawned and wavered away into a deep sleep after watching the deserted streets for so long. His snoring was so loud and impeccable that it disturbed Mordecai from his thoughts. Mordecai glanced at Rigby and smiled at his sleeping friend. Rigby looked like he just got out of a train wreck as his arms and legs were spread out everywhere and his drooling continued to flow out of his mouth.

After thirty minutes passed, Mordecai and the sleeping raccoon arrived back at their humble home. All the lights were out, from what Mordecai could tell, as he carried the raccoon out of the car. He felt Rigby's soft fur as he patted it and headed up the stairs that led to the porch. After he unlocked the door and headed into their bedroom, Mordecai turned on a lamp and laid Rigby on his small trampoline; covering him with the random clothes. Rigby moved a bit and smiled within his covers. Mordecai smirked at the sight and got up. Before he went for his bed he heard Rigby say quietly,

"Oh, Mordecai…"

Mordecai turned around to see if he was awake. However, he saw Rigby with his eyes shut and his arms outstretched, reaching for something. Mordecai got close to him and waited to hear what he had to say. While crouching, Mordecai was reminded of what happened earlier that day; with the tie fixing and their faces touching each other and such. Mordecai could still feel the remains of Rigby's fur as he was tempted to touch his fur again. He bet that Margaret wouldn't mind, since she would never know, and that Rigby was one heavy sleeper and wouldn't wake up. So he decided to take the opportunity just to see how soft he was. He looked around before he slowly started rubbing the raccoon's back. He felt weird doing this, and yet he found it funny on how Rigby was flinching and turning. Rigby's tail started flopping up and down as Rigby smiled faintly. The sleepy raccoon chuckled a little and turned over, making Mordecai's hand slide away. Mordecai continued to tease the exhausted friend as he scratched his ears. Rigby waved his arms around and giggled.

"Stop it, hehe hehe… stop it…" He flipped around and covered up. Mordecai shook his head and grinned.

_Wow, he is one soft raccoon… and… he's pretty cut-_

He shockingly froze from his thought and stared at Rigby, with wide eyes and shrunk up pupils. He seemed so snuggled underneath the clothes. Mordecai got up and slowly headed to bed.

Mordecai felt so… different. He lied there under his covers, contemplating on what he was thinking.

_Do I… I… still like Rigby? _He shifted and stared at the ceiling, debating on what he felt for Rigby, before he fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Margaret laid in her bed as she stared at her decorated ceiling. She thought of how she felt about Mordecai. A little shy and nervous at first, but she could see him being more like… her type. She thought about the black mailing on Rigby and figured that she should drop it anyway. She'll just let Rigby off the hook… just this once. Besides, who's really going to care what happened at the theatre anyways?<p>

_Not me! _Margaret rolled her eyes and turned her head over her pillow.

Before she fell asleep, her phone rang. She got up and looked at the time, which was 12:06 a.m. and growled. She picked up her phone and saw that the number was unidentified.

"HELLO? WHO'S THIS? DO YOU KNOW THAT IT'S PAST TWELVE?"

She heard an unrecognizable, raspy voice respond to her.

"Hello Margaret, I have something to tell you…"

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT WITH ME? I HAVE NO IDEA WHO YOU ARE! SO GET OFF OR I WILL!"

"Calm down Margaret, yeesh. You remind of my mom. Never mind. I have to tell you something about Rigby-"

"I DON'T CARE, I'M HANGI-… Wait, did you say Rigby?" She listened in, sliding phone closer to her ear hole.

"Ummm… Yes I did… Rigby has a well hidden secret that I think you should know about."

Margaret curled an evil smile as she glared at the picture of what Mordecai, Rigby, Eileen and she have taken tonight at Spaghattii's. It was already framed and was put on top of her clothes dresser. In the picture though, she has drawn a red X to cover Rigby's face, plus a pair of devil horns on his head. Margaret regained her focus back to the phone.

"Well then… I'm listening…"

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading this so far! :D I've been so busy working on this chapter and I hope you guys appreciate this. I had to recheck and fix this chapter about fifteen times before publishing it because there was so much in this. And I love that this is the longest chapter yet! Please, if there was any way you were offended from reading this, like the religion aspect, please understand that I am not bashing anyone's beliefs! I'm just trying to capture the character's different views on somethings to make the story more interesting. Yeah, it's probably not what they experience in the actual show, since this story is fictional from the show, but do you think Cartoon Network will ever do an episode that has something to do with there 'religion' aspects? Idk :**

**But, I hope that you like this so far! What's gonna happen next? Who knows, except for me of course :) But if you have questions and such, please ASK! **

**Please COMMENT or REVIEW this if you can! I love getting all of your opinions out on here! It drives me to type MORE! Also, I love talking to all of you too! Thanks again and... 'OOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!' Go MORBY!**

**All characters belong to Cartoon Network and... yeah, none of these characters are mine... well maybe Gasparo? Eh, you can claim Gasparo if you want :) **


	6. Chapter 6: Finding more than 'Nothing'

_..._

A small puddle leaked from the snoozing raccoon's mouth as his pillow soaked it up. His hands outstretched and his tail aloft under some covers, he heard faint noises from the environment around his motionless body.

_*Ring… Ring… Ring…stomp…stomp… stomp…*_

Rigby slowly opened his eyes as he witnessed the bedroom door closing in front of him, not knowing who the figure was doing the action. He scrambled out of his covers and fell off his bed with a thud. He froze from his position as he looked at the blue-sheeted bed that he was just on.

_Wait… Why was I on that bed?_

He looked around and noticed that he was left alone. He was in his own bedroom, yet it was so empty and clean. Not even his random clothes or trampoline was in sight. Rigby lazily got up from his fall and languidly opened the door. On the way down the stairs, he smelled pancakes being cooked and pointed his nose to the aroma.

_Yes! Pancakes!_

Rigby's body shook with excitment as he ran on all four and entered the kitchen. He shouted,

"MORNING DUDES! HOW'S it going…"

He froze in confusion as he witness an older and busier Eileen; who smiled cheerfully at him and battered a pancake on the steaming stove. She had bigger glasses on and was wearing an apron that said 'Victim of Husband Nagging.'

"Morning sweetie, how was your sleep? I'm making your favorite!" Rigby looked to the left and right on the kitchen walls and noticed picture frames of him and Eileen doing different things together: vacations, trips, his and her families meeting, and a wedding picture of the both of them dressed in their casual ware.

_Wha… what?_

He stumbled back and gazed at a nearby mirror to examine himself. To his amazement, his face had change; his eyes' bags are now noticeably darker and saggier. He felt older and weaker; like the youth has been torn out of him. He touched his face and shook in fear.

_WHAT THE… FUCK?_

He slowly went into the kitchen, shaking like a ragdoll, and stumbled onto his chair, avoiding eye contact with Eileen.

_No… nah… this ain't happening… I'm…_

"Eileen, how old am I?"

Eileen gave him a confused face and tilt his head. "Ummm… thirty-five dear." She pointed at him and giggled at his silly 'joke'. Rigby's eyes shot wide open as he trembled at the sight of his hands, which were fuzzier and clamp, and he was wearing a ring on his left ring finger. He pinched himself many times, but he had no luck of breaking out of his 'nightmare'. Eileen turned around, leaving the pancakes to simmer, and washed a couple of dishes.

"You know, Margaret and Mordecai are coming over in just a second to visit. They're bringing their kids over to play."

The already terrified raccoon's heart skipped a beat as he grabbed his chair.

… _wait…KIDS? WHAT? They're…_

Suddenly, three small avian triplets, which there were two blue ones and one red avian, all ran through the door at the front of the house; yelling and 'shooting' each other with their fake guns. They ran around the table as Rigby kept to his own space; his teeth shaking from the sight. He cringed as he saw an older Margaret and a buffer Mordecai, both wearing suits and talking on their cell phones. Rigby, even though he was frightened, liked the way Mordecai looked with his build and sunglasses on. But it was all too awkward for him when Mordecai and Margaret were wearing matching wedding rings.

_WHAT? MORDECAI MARRIED MARGARET?_

Mordecai held off his phone and yelled out to his kids.

"OOOOOOOOOHHH! MORE MONEY FOR MY WALLET!" He then gleamed at Rigby, who was terrified of what he was witnessing but couldn't help but blush from the way that the confident avian gleamed at him with his charming eyes and tilted sunglasses.

"What's up Rigby? Long time no see! How's it feel to be the owner of the PARK!" His kids replied, "OOOOOOOOOOHH! GO MR. RIGBY!", and continued running throughout the house. Mordecai held Margaret tight and kissed her passionately. Eileen finished up some pancakes and giggled at the scene. Mordecai let go of his wife's lips and deeply said,

"I love you so much Margie."

Rigby began to twitch, every part of him flinching, as he wasn't catching on to all the things that were happening around him at once. His whole body shook like an earthquake; he held his eyes shut, just wishing that this would all end. Mordecai took some steps past him, not noticing his body shaking, and looked at the contents of the kitchen. The stud avian continued,

"You know, I'm totally going to miss this place. It brings so many memories… So, can't wait till we go live in ALASKA!" He then continued his 'OOOHH' along with his kids as Margaret hugged and kissed him back. She then continued to talk on the phone, all serious while flipping her wings around.

The noise from the stove sizzling the pancakes, the sink filling with rushing water that clashed against the dishes, the arrogant kids 'shooting' at one another, Margaret's blabbing, and Mordecai yelling in a victory chant drove the raccoon to insanity. He was getting mixed emotions as he just couldn't stand the sight of all of this. The very confused raccoon fumed up and screamed at the top of his lungs,

"**STOP TALKING!"**

Everyone immediately stared at him as the terrified and yet angered raccoon stood on the kitchen table. Rigby kept jumping up and down while squeezing his eyes shut. He started kicking the dishes, which were set for breakfast, away and threw plates at the pale walls. He wanted it all to end. He never planned on this happening.

_I would have never let this happened! What have I become?_

Rigby began to cry as he got on all four and started slamming the table with his bare fists. Immediately, the kitchen walls and the inhibitors shattered like glass, revealing a vague and dark world, as Rigby slid off the table and entered into a random and ominous dimension from the ground. After screaming down the swirling passageway for about ten seconds, he slammed down on the ground, busting his nose a little, and looked up at a stream of light coming from afar. He slowly got up and walked to it, limping from his fall while holding his nose in place. His nose was dripping red, scarlet blood that splashed upon the dark ground quietly. The closer he got to the light, the more he heard soft whispers, mocking him by saying,

"Stop Talking! Stop Talking! Stop Talking! Stop Talking! Sto-"

Rigby panicked from the noises, which were creeping up against his ear drums. They continuously pounded them as his body vibrated. Chills went along his spine as he started to run toward the light, limping even more and his bleeding increasing its flow. He didn't care though; he had to get away from it all. The closer he got, the more he saw a figure sitting on a plastic chair within the bright light. He couldn't tell who it was, since the figure was in a huge dark cloak and was faced away from him.

When Rigby was about five feet away from the figure, the voices stopped and Rigby was warped in a white room. Rigby's eyes dilated from the sudden change as he stood completely still. He realized that the space between him and the figure had increased dramatically in the white void.

Complete silence took control as Rigby's breathing became heavier.

The dark figure sat in secrecy, not moving a single muscle. Rigby stood there for a bit, debating on rather he would confront the thing or to find a way out of there. He turned around and felt behind him, but there was an invisible wall blocking his way out. While he stared back at the figure, the room started to freeze up as the temperature dropped like rocks. Rigby's body shook as he shivered from the sudden change in temp. He covered himself as invisible winds blew all around him. He took a step closer to the dark figure, fearing the worse of what was about to come. The figure suddenly pulled out its arm, revealing its long bony arm and hand from within the cloak. Automatically, Rigby couldn't control his feet as they kept on it, walking to his doom as the figure turned around and outreached its arm even further. The bony hand crept closer to Rigby's face as the room slowly turned dark red. The more the raccoon struggled, the faster he stepped to the dark figure and the more vibrant the redness became.

Rigby, who was whimpering like crazy, was only able to stop his walking when he was barely a foot away from the bony hand. The head of the cloaked figure slowly turned toward and glared at the horrified raccoon; its head and neck creaking from the movement. It began to speak with its dark voice; booming and yet dreadful sounding.

"Ah… Rigby,… why should they stop talking… when you don't?"

_What? Wha-_

"I heard you Rigby… in your thoughts… you know what I mean… they talk without fear, while you talk… only to hide…" Rigby grimaced from the red eyes under the hood, stinging his droopy and seldom orifices with its ultraviolent beams. The cold wind continued to blow around him as his body heated up from complete trepidation. He lowered his brows and yelled at the figure.

"**NO! ... I told Eileen the truth! I've always been myself!"**

Rigby could taste the blood running from his nose as he felt his body continue to tremble in front of his nightmare. The cloaked figure shook his bony hand in disagreement to what the raccoon yelled. Rigby's body unconsciously nudged forward; the skeletal hand only inches from his bloody nose.

"And that's all? … Not even your family?... Tsk, tsk, tsk… It's time for you to COME and face the music… Rigby… you don't need to exist… anymore… because no one knows… the real… you…"

The figure suddenly unraveled its face by removing its heavy hood. Rigby looked closely, with deep apprehension. But he was shocked at the sight of the being. It was a girl with red, familiar hair… and a familiar face. He only got a second to notice the familiarities before the bony hand sprung out and grabbed Rigby by his face, with its sharp, ossified fingers. Rigby could only scream in terror, from the sight of the new gashes on his face. The hand clinched harder as Rigby used his own worn out hands in desperate attempt to fight the bony grasp off. Instantaneously, the mocking noises came back to haunt his deepest thoughts, screaming in his head with the same words.

"_**STOP TALKING! STOP TALKING! STOP TALKING! STOP TAL-"**_

Rigby's head shook furiously, his eyes almost being squeezed out of their sockets, before his whole head-…

* * *

><p>Rigby immediately shot up from his trampoline, pushing some sleeves and shirts away from his face. The trampoline creaked loudly from the sudden movements as Rigby jolted his eyes to the left and right and scuffled out of his clothes. He felt his face and skimmed the top of his brow, disposing his sweat away. He breathed in and out slowly and stared upon the wooden ground. He positioned his hands on his cheeks and slouched his body, while sitting on the edge of his trampoline.<p>

The moonlight, with shades of white and blue, dimly lit up the bed room as it shined down through the window and fostered the stretched shadow of the frigid raccoon. Rigby felt like someone had put bricks on his back. He didn't fully understand what the meaning from his nightmare was, but he didn't want to think about it. It felt… so real.

He sighed and looked up at the back of Mordecai's bed. He could see the overlaying covers showing Mordecai's form, rising and falling slowly from his smooth breathing, as he flinched a little to his left. Rigby loved watching him sleep; sometimes, it was funny to watch the avian and it made him feel better.

Mordecai would usually flip his wings over himself and flop around. At times, Mordecai would say stuff in his dreams and then hum funny tones. He barely even snored, except for times when he felt stress out before heading to bed. But the best part about Mordecai's sleeping attributes was when he smiled. Just the look of the happy and peaceful avian snoozing made Rigby's heart sing.

Rigby started rubbing his shoulders as he got up and tip toed toward Mordecai's bed. The floor creaked ever so slightly as he made his way to the left side of the bed. Rigby stood there, watching as Mordecai put on a grin and hummed like a… well, like a blue bird. Rigby felt so awkward standing there near Mordecai (yet it felt so right) as he felt some radiating heat from his friend. Since his nightmare had scared the hair out of him, he couldn't help but look at Mordecai because it made him happy just seeing him; just seeing Mordecai made Rigby feel better about himself. Usually when he had a nightmare, Rigby would go and immediately tell Mordecai of it. But he figured that it was best not to tell him, since the dream revealed too much of his feelings… and it probably would reveal his secret crush for the avian.

Rigby gleamed at the blue and white plumage, which were dimly lit from the moonlight. He wanted to feel his smooth and vibrant feathers again, each reflecting a sliver of light. But he knew that Mordecai was not a hard sleeper. He didn't want to risk the chance of Mordecai awkwardly waking up and himself having to explain what he was doing to his feathers. The disheartened raccoon and faced the facts.

Before he headed back to his trampoline, Mordecai moaned out loud and stretched for some covers. But it seemed like he was struggling for those covers because he scrambled his feet to much; which have pushed them back. Rigby took the opportunity and slowly lifted the covers over his friend's body. The covers were slowly tucked into Mordecai as Rigby's sly hands helped with being undetected. Mordecai then grab his covers unconsciously and wrapped his wings upon them to reinforce his slumber. He then slowly smiled within the enveloping blanket and continued to snooze. Rigby sweetly smiled right back at his best friend and tip toed quickly back to the trampoline. He turned his body around in the covers and faced the gentle moonlight.

While staring out the window into the vaguely, starry sky, Rigby remembered that he and Eileen, from last night, would work together on faking their dating relationship and act like they were really in love with each other. Eileen didn't mind this of course; she was just happy that Rigby was truly being honest with her from now on. This plan was to only assure that Mordecai and Margaret would never guess of his secret love for the avian. But someday, he would tell his love for Mordecai. Someday…

After minutes passed from self-thought, Rigby re-covered himself within the clothes and turned his body toward Mordecai one final time. He kept thinking to himself of how he was ever going to get close to him.

_Someday… someday I'll get to him… and he's gonna love me back… and we'll be together… forever… someday… somed-…_

Rigby snoozed off before finishing his train of thought. But he was grinning peacefully under the stream of faint moon light; his happy dream only consisted of him and Mordecai.

* * *

><p>*Knock, Knock, Knock*<p>

Mordecai flipped out of his covers, rubbed his eyes, and glanced at the door.

"Hello? Who is it?"

"You know who it is. Time for you guys to get up. We're having waffles for breakfast." The voice came from Benson, who got out his pen and marked off one of the things off his list. He softly said to himself, "Ok, 'Get up Mordecai and Rigby', check!"

Meanwhile, Mordecai's eyes lit up as he sprang from his bed. He ran over and shook the tired raccoon to wake up. After a few shakes, the grumpy raccoon shoved some clothes over his body and refused to get up. Mordecai rolled his eyes and persisted on getting him up.

"Rigby! We're having waffles, dude! Get up!"

Rigby's eyes lit up, like Mordecai's, from hearing about the waffles and pushed the clothes off his body. Mordecai stepped back as Rigby prepared himself to jump from his trampoline.

"HERE COMES THE ULTIMATE WAFFLE JUMP!"

After a few seconds of small bouncing, Mordecai rooted him on as the raccoon then jumped seven feet in the air, performed a semi-spin, and landed on Mordecai; ending with a huge thud. After they both slammed on the ground, the two dudes laughed from what had happened and the avian slowly got up.

"Hehehehe… Here, let me get you up!"

Rigby secretly blushed as he was picked up by Mordecai and settled on the ground. Feeling him pull him up and brushing him off felt like a sensation to Rigby. But he immediately stopped blushing and laughed some more with his friend.

Benson, who was actually walking down the stairs, heard the sudden thud and immediately went back and started knocking on their door. Before he could question what was going on in there, the avian and raccoon both shouted,

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!... WWWWAAAAAFFFLLLEEEEESS!"

Benson stopped his knocking and rolled his eyes.

_At least they're coming._

He walked only a couple of feet from the room before… **BAM!** Mordecai and Rigby busted through the bedroom door and ran past the surprised gumball machine. The two ran down the stairs and skidded along the rug into the kitchen. They were able to stop themselves from sliding to far on the rug by grabbing the edges of the doorway. They stopped their skidding in front of Pops; the jolly man who was carrying his waffles from the stove.

"MORNING YA! Let's eat some WAFFLES!" Rigby did a fancy turn before both dudes high fived each other and quickly sat down with Skips, Muscleman, and High Fives. Only two seats weren't being used at the moment.

After putting waffles at his spot near Mordecai, Pops went and got two plates of waffles for Mordecai and Rigby. The two stared intently at the waffles, the golden crusts cooked to perfection, as each plate were laid in front of them.

"THANKS POPS! These look so scrumptious!" Rigby then grabbed the syrup and poured a whole load of it on top of his waffles before Mordecai snatched it away, saying he was using too much of it. Pops giggled from their little argument over the syrup and noted,

"Oh you two stop fighting over silly syrup. There's plenty of food for everyone!" He joyfully clapped his hands and continued eating his waffles. Mordecai and Rigby shrugged and the avian used some syrup on his waffles before handing it back to Rigby. Rigby smudged a grin before saying,

"Hey Mordecai, this 'AIN'T J'YOUR MAMA'! OOOOOOOOHHHH!" ('Aunt Jamima' Syrup brand. Hopefully you'll get it.)

Rigby then continued to pour more syrup on his already-drenched waffles. While doing this, he reminded himself about what they were going to do today… together. He couldn't wait to visit the comic store after getting their work done. Even though he was tired during last night travels, he remembered the comics displayed on the walls and the special sales sign that it had. But he especially remembered the 'CHOM' flashing advertisement that made it stand out in the streets.

Benson finally came in, after fixing the rug, and grabbed a plate of waffles. He shuffled his papers and clipped them to the board before he sat down on the front of the table.

"Well, thanks to Pops, we can all have a great breakfast. Thank you Pops." The gumball machine then chowed down on the long-awaited meal. Pops giggled even more from the appreciation of his fellow friends.

During the couple of minutes that have passed by, Muscleman kept giving glances over at Rigby and stared back at his plate. Rigby, of course, didn't realize this because he was too busy chomping his own food down, like a mad dog. Fives knew of his friend's actions but said nothing. It only took a few seconds later before Skips noticed Muscleman's actions and grimaced at the sight.

"Hey Muscleman, is something bothering you?"

Muscleman looked back and snorted. "No, nothing's bothering me. Lay off."

Skips shook his head and remained silent.

Soon after everyone were done eating, Benson got his papers out and started talking about the things to do for today.

"Ok, Skips, just fix the tennis court nets and fix the roof of the cottage on the southern edge of this park." Skips shook his head in agreement.

Pops then started hopping up and down on his seat.

"Oooh Benson! Do I have something to do on the list?"

Benson put on a confused face and sighed. "Look Pops, ummm… I know that you like to help us around and such, but since you're technically the boss of me, you can do whatever you want. We've been over this many times before. So, do whatever."

Pops put his hands together in scooted his body toward Benson.

"Well then, since I'm clearly the boss of you, I order you to make me help you all! Please?" The gumball machine stared through Pop's pleading eyes. Benson gave a smug and looked over his list. He then came up with an unpredictable chore.

"Ok… how about if you… clean your car."

Pops put his hands up from his uncontrollable excitement, popped out of his seat and jumped for joy. He then ran off while humming a joyful song. As soon as he was gone, Benson shrugged and handed out the common list of chores that Muscleman and Fives had to do, which wasn't much. The ghost and zombie high-fived each other and slammed the table, letting Benson know they could do the chores. Before Benson could hand out Mordecai and Rigby's list though, Mordecai nervously held out his wing.

"Hold on Benson… Rigby and I have decided to do today's and part of tomorrow's chores, since we have another date tomorrow with Margaret and Eileen. So can we… skip ahead and do some of the extra chores for tomorrow as well?"

At first instinct, Rigby wanted to protest against what Mordecai was suggesting, since, in his opinion, they were going to waste more time doing pointless work so that they would have less time at that comic store together. He saw that doing more work was pointless, and that they were only doing this because Mordecai just wanted to get closer to his new girlfriend, Margaret, and have more time to get ready for his date.

Nevertheless, Rigby knew that he had no choice but to help his friend out. Besides, he would rather see his friend happy instead of being miserable, even if he is happy with that bitch.

Rigby smiled slightly and added on to Mordecai's argument.

"Yeah, we don't want to risk any chance of being late for our dates with Eileen and Margaret. We swear we won't disappoint you."

Mordecai turned his head at Rigby's and smiled sweetly at his attempt of persuading Benson. He felt bad at the fact that Rigby and he were going to have less time hanging out at the comic store because of the extra chores. Then an idea struck his brain like lightning.

_Wait… didn't Muscleman and Fives skip a day of work last week? Yeah, I remember now! We were stuck doing there chores for no apparent reason!_

Before Benson could mention anything, Mordecai quickly turned his head back and spoke over Benson's words.

"Wait! Umm… I also promised to Rigby that I would be able to go to the comic store today with hi-"

"It's a freaking cool comic store called… what was it…. Ummm…. Oh yeah, CHOM! I don't know why it was named that but it looked like it was selling comics, which were displayed at the window… and… other things."

Mordecai stared down at Rigby and motioned him to stay quiet for a second, which he did. The avian continued with his brilliant idea.

"As I was saying, we feel as if we've done a lot for the past couple of days and… some of us haven't done enough… and have been slacking off…" (Mordecai realized what he was actually saying, which had so much irony, yet he continued.)

"So, can there be any possible way that you can… give some of our chores to someone else. Like… someone… or somebodies, who skipped a day of work last week, because of a hockey game… huh?" He tilted his head toward Muscleman and Fives, who noticed what he was aiming at. Muscleman gritted his teeth and wanted to protest, but Benson put his hand up to hush him. He looked back at his papers and realized that Mordecai was right about last week. With a surprised expression, Benson shuffled his sheets again and then coughed a little. He faced Muscleman and Fives before speaking.

"Okay, look, I know that you two didn't do that day of work last week, and it apparently slipped my mind, and Mordecai and Rigby were forced to do the extra work. *sigh* I can't believe I'm saying this but… Mordecai and Rigby have been doing a lot lately, which I've been tracking down their progress. But you two have been given the easy chores for quite some time. So, I find it fair that some of the work should be laid off of Mordecai and Rigby and be given to you two. At least… four chores would do."

"WHAT? NO WAY IN HELL! WE ARE NOT GOING TO DO THOSE EXTRA CHORES!" Muscleman slammed the table and ripped his and Five's chore list in half. Benson stood from his seat and gave a dirty look towards Muscleman. He was really sick of the zombie's behavior and attitude. He looked at Skips, who was mouthing him to stay calm and not to yell. Benson, trying his best not to yell at Muscleman, held his frustration in and calmly stated,

"Look, I'm your boss and I get to command what goes on around here. You will make up for your day of work or… you're fired."

Muscleman, Fives, Rigby and Mordecai just stared at Benson in amazement. He usually yelled when he said his catch phrase, 'you're fired'. It was an odd and rare event when Benson didn't yell his catch phrase. Muscleman clenched his fists and decided to let it go, even though he wanted to pound Rigby's and Mordecai's heads together. He started mumbling to himself and snatched Mordecai's and Rigby's list. He then marked off four chores on their list and added the list of chores on his own ripped-in-half list. He then shoved his plate away and squinted his eyes at the two dudes before throwing their list back and marching out of the room. Mordecai and Rigby slapped fives and did their 'hmmm, hmmm' towards the ticked off Muscleman. Fives frowned from his and Muscleman's bad luck and just floated behind the zombie. He then stared coldly at the happy raccoon and avian, before he left with his ticked off friend.

After the two left the kitchen and were out of sight, Fives quietly spoke to the irritated blob of meat.

"Hey, calm down man. They don't know who they are dealing with."

Muscleman grunted and then mumbled back,

"Yeah, I suppose you're right Fives. It really doesn't matter what they do now. We'll get them back anyways, especially Rigby."

He brought his brows down and looked at Fives with his nasty grin.

"I swear on my mom that we're going to break up those two love birds, and humiliate Rigby for what he is…"

* * *

><p>Back at the kitchen during the moment the ghost and zombie left, Benson let out a sigh and fixed his papers up.<p>

"I really do appreciate you two on your hard effort over the past days and so I'll let you off the hook." He smiled at Mordecai and Rigby, who were still surprised of his nice attitude, and then lifted one of his sheets.

"Ok, you two do your part for the day. I would, but I can't let you 'get ahead' on your chores, since I have all the chores neatly scheduled for different days. I don't want to risk the chance of screwing it all up. But I'll let you have less work tomorrow, ok?" Mordecai and Rigby shook their heads up and down in unison. Benson continued,

"Now, since we got that situated, I need you to help clean this kitchen up." He then swiped his plate and placed it in the sink. Mordecai and Rigby beamed at the sudden change of plans for their day and, with Skip's assistance, they immediately got to work on the kitchen.

After an hour passed, Mordecai and Rigby set out to work on their other chores. The sun was blazing, once again, with the cool breeze that came every now and then. The two dudes went and mowed another section of the park, painted over some graffiti on the bathroom walls, picked gum off the park's tables and chairs, picked trash from the ground, and removed the weeds in the park's garden. It took them about three hours to complete all of their chores before heading back to the house. (Good thing they didn't have more to do. This was there lucky break.)

Exhausted and famished, the two slumped into the living room and slouched on the couch. It didn't take long for the air conditioning to cool them down, since Benson had it freezing in there. They were so tired from the amount of work that they snoozed on the opposite sides of the couch. The cool breeze settled over the sleeping friends as they slept for about twenty minutes. After a while, Mordecai's phone vibrated near him and woke up him. His phone had a text message from Margaret, with a picture of her smiling in the contact. When he saw this, Mordecai immediately got up and stretched his back and arms while his lazy friend still laid there underneath one of the puffy pillows. Mordecai smirked from the sight and yawned.

"Dude, you awake?"

Rigby flipped over the pillow to feel it's cool side. His tail twitched as Mordecai sat back down near him. Mordecai poked and nudged him as Rigby flapped his hands around, pushing Mordecai aside. Mordecai smiled at the raccoon's feeble attempt of keeping him away.

"So, since we're done with the chores for today, wanna go head to that comic store you talked about, the one called… CHOM I think, instead of sleeping the day away?"

Rigby slumped over his pillow and fixed his fur before getting up. He chapped his lips as if they were as dry as the Sahara Desert. He rubbed his eyes, flopped off the couch and unto the floor. He wasn't use to doing so much work before, since most of the time they slacked off on there chores. But he was just glad they got done early and had more time for the comic store.

While Rigby stretched his body, Mordecai glanced back at his phone and read the message from Margaret:

'Hey Mordie Pie! :D Wadzup?'

Mordecai blushed before replying back to her.

'N2m, just got done with chores. About to head to a comic store. U?'

He sent it and slid it away. When Rigby finally got his body in motion, he asked who Mordecai was texting.

"Oh, just Margaret. She was just wondering what we were doing. That's all."

Rigby grunted and rolled his eyes. He stretched his back and flexed his tail.

"So… did you tell her our plan for today? Or what?"

"Umm… yeah. I already sent it."

*Humph* "You know, she's probably gonna get on your nerves with the whole texting thing, you know that right? If there's one thing about her, she tends to text a lot."

"Oh please, Rigby. How do you know, dude? *pssh* Besides, I love talking to her. I don't min-"

Suddenly, his phone vibrated again and it was from… Margaret. Rigby smirked and walked over to the door.

"Come on man; let's just go to that comic store. You can text her on the way there." Then from another room, echoed Pop's voice,

"Hold on one moment!" Pops ran through the house and jumped in front of them.

"Can I come with you two? I love the idea of reading books with pictures in them!" He giggled a little. Mordecai shrugged and Rigby groaned to himself, yet also shrugged. Mordecai patted Pop's back and led him to the doorway.

"Sure Pops, you can come with us!"

Rigby opened the front door and smiled, hiding his disappointment at the fact that he can never get a chance alone with Mordecai. He didn't mind that Pops wanted to hang out with them, but it bothered him that once again he couldn't be alone with his one true love… again. When Pops and Mordecai passed by Rigby and were outside, the disappointed raccoon slowly closed the door behind him.

* * *

><p>Their feet patted against the gum-covered concrete, with pieces of cigarette on the sides, as the three walked down the street. The sun continued to shine, which it was stretching their shadows along the ground. The streets really had no one walking on it due to the killer heat; but the three figured why not take a stroll and save the gas for Pop's car. Besides the heat, it was a beautiful day.<p>

Shops to their right were postured with advisements and were showing their concessions and such. Mordecai continued to text his girlfriend as he stayed close to Pops so that he wouldn't step off onto the road. He practically relied on his peripheral vision to keep an eye on Pops so he could be guided on the street, but he mainly focused on his phone. Pops, on the other hand, was talking about each shop, saying which ones he adored and which ones he kind of liked. But mainly, he was very distracted.

"Oooh Look! A Union Jack!" Pops ran away from the avian, leaving the bird alone and unaware of his space. Mordecai was too focused on his texting that he didn't know that Pops left him. Mordecai began to trail off the street before realizing what he was doing.

***HONK HONK***

Mordecai looked up and stopped himself from almost stepping onto the road. He broke a sweat as a car zoomed by him, only a foot away from his feet. He froze there from the chills that ran through his body before he came back to reality.

_Holy shit… That was close… where the… where the H did Pops go anyway?_ He looked straight back at the street and saw Rigby catching up with Pops. Mordecai caught up and covered his eyes from the glares that the window was reflecting. He saw Pops smearing his face against the window of a British shop as the annoyed raccoon slumped his body against the window of the shop.

"Hey Pops, can we go window shopping later? It's too freaking hot out here." Rigby tugged on Pop's shirt to get him away from the window. Pops slid his face across the window before walking away from the store. Mordecai comforted him while Rigby walked ahead.

"Don't worry Pops, we can go there later if you want; probably after we visit the comic store."

Pops agreed with him. The two noticed how far up Rigby was, who's been power-walking lately, and ran up ahead.

Minutes passed and Rigby started to worry where the store was. He was the one practically leading the other two because he was the only one who actually knew what the store looked like, or what he thought it looked like. He shifted to the left and right, his eyes flashing on every spot near them. Mordecai noticed his shifting in confusion and questioned,

"Rigby, do you remember where this place was anyway? Or what it looked like?"

"I remember that it was somewhere on this street… But I think we might have missed it." Rigby shrugged and put up his best smile toward the avian. Mordecai slapped his head and shook it.

"Great, now we can-" *beep* "Oh, Hold on a second, dude."

Mordecai got out his phone again and continued texting with Margaret. Rigby grunted and looked off down the street. He was getting really ticked off that Margaret kept texting him.

_It's not fucking fair! He gets to talk to her even when she's not even HERE! I curse the day texting was invented._

Rigby kicked a pebble toward the road and kept walking forward, with Pops and the busy avian following behind.

Before long, the three were getting tired from not being able to find it. Rigby kept searching for any clue, looking franticly for the store. Then with a huge amount of luck, Rigby was able to catch a glimpse of a sign on a wooden pole that advertised that 'CHOM' was only about five blocks away. He pointed at it and began jogging onward. When Rigby crossed five blocks, with the other two trailing, he took only a glimpse of a brick building exterior, with the CHOM advertisement hanging on the front. He paid no mind to anything else as he turned around to wave his arms for his friends.

_Yes, this has got to be it! I mean, there's the freaking advertisement!_

He smirked and shoved his hands underneath his armpits. He looked towards Pops and Mordecai, while holding his head high.

"Hmmm, Hmmm. What did I tell you? I told you I knew where it was at."

Pops and Mordecai paused and stared at the brick store; or at the brick building from the looks of it. The inside of the building was empty and there was no trace of a 'Special SALE' sign hanging on the wall, except for about a hundred small different posters hung on the glass. The only other thing on the building was the random CHOM sign; which wasn't flashing. Mostly everything that Rigby explained about the place was false information, except for the CHOM sign.

"Ummm… Rigby. It seems like this place has been… closed down."

Rigby turned around and was shocked at how it actually looked like. He didn't remember seeing the building in this condition from last night, covered in way more posters. The confused raccoon stood there motionless.

_I…I… what?_

Mordecai shrugged and took some steps forward, ripped some posters out of the way, and placed his face against the window. Literally nothing was inside the small building. except for the empty space filled with dust and the white walls. Mordecai pushed himself off the window and shrugged.

"Guess you didn't see that it was an empty place. It's not a comic store dude. Oh we-"

"HOLD ON A MOMENT!" Rigby scrambled his feet and slammed his face against the window.

_WHAT THE FUCK? Whe… what?_

"That's so freaking weird dude! I swear I saw the store in a better condition than this. There was a 'Special Sale' sign and the flashing lights that advertised the store's name, CHOM, and the-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa… what? Yeah, I remember the flashing lights, but a special sale sign?… Actually, come to think of it, I don't remember literally seeing comic books either. I remember the small posters on this window. And the only other thing that I saw last night that's still here is that CHOM sign above us."

Mordecai put his hands on his hips and shook his beak in confusion. Rigby froze and kept looking back at the empty building.

"Wait… you didn't see… I thought that… Are you sure that you looked correctly?"

"Well, only for a second. I didn't see much of it though. I was driving, remember?"

Rigby placed his hand on his chin and re-thought about last night.

"But wouldn't you have seen the store on the way back from Spaghatti's?"

Mordecai thought about it and shrugged. "Nah dude, I didn't notice it. Actually, come to think of it, maybe this wasn't a comic store after all. You were awfully tired last night anyway. You sure you weren't imagining it? Maybe you just imagined comic books here."

Rigby looked behind him and studied the posters on the glass.

_Maybe… I was imagining it all… maybe the comics that I saw were only the posters that I see in front of me… So it wasn't even a comic store after all… just my weird imagination... right?_

"Ummm… you know what… I'm not even sure anymore…" he shrugged and walked up closer to Mordecai and stood by him. The two just stared at the deserted building; troubled that they have completely wasted their time in trying to find a 'store' that is now hopelessly just an empty building with a random advertisement.

* * *

><p>*(During Mordecai and Rigby's investigation on the building, Pops was confused at the fact that he wasn't getting what the two of them were talking about, since he wasn't with them last night. So what the two dudes didn't notice during their conversation was that Pops had secretly left them and headed to the British store from earlier to get his Union Jack that he wanted so desperately. He thought that since they got done 'visiting' the store that he would want to go ahead and head to the British shop. But Mordecai and Rigby had totally forgotten about Pops at the moment.)<p>

* * *

><p>Mordecai and Rigby continued to stare calmly at the building. While standing amidst the gentle breeze, Rigby was able to feel some feathers brush against his fur. Rigby turned his head and marveled at the sight of the calm jay. He almost got lost in his thoughts before he shook it out. He wanted to question his friend again so that he wouldn't blush at the thought of Mordecai.<p>

"So… wait… hold on a second… if you didn't know what this building really looked like, did you rely on me… on finding this place… so you wouldn't have to admit that you forgot about what it looked like?"

Mordecai looked down at the raccoon, taking in all the raccoon said, and rubbed the back of his head.

"Well… yeah… but I knew that I could trust you on finding it. And, technically, you did."

He smiled brightly and looked at Rigby's eyes. Rigby also smiled brightly and stared back at Mordecai's eyes as well.

"Well…" Rigby gulped at the sight of the avian, how good-looking he was to him under the sun, and stuttered a little bit. "Thanks… f… for trusting me then. I really appreciate it, dude."

"No problem… Rigby."

The sun radiated on the two whiles the wind gracefully flowed through their fur and feathers. They continued to stare at each other without moving a muscle. They zoned through their own widening pupils and their smiles widened in unison. Rigby could feel the jay's body heat, more intense compared to the sun's, and even though he tried to fight it, he couldn't help but blush like crazy. As for Mordecai, his mixed emotions for Rigby were getting to him as he couldn't help it either. He continued to admire his best friend and got lost within his thoughts; forgetting about his girlfriend and all his other worldly worries.

_Gosh… he's so… handsome… and cute… I… I…wow… Am I really… in lov-… with him?_

They both were hoping that the other wouldn't notice of their deep zonings as they couldn't help it. While carrying on their deep-minded visions of each other, Rigby could feel Mordecai's hand swaying near his puny hand. He was contemplating on rather to reach for it or to resist his urges to. Rigby's feelings of getting so close to his true love was exhilarating and yet so risky.

_Should I reach for it… Should I grab it?... I… I… _

***Beep Beep***

Mordecai and Rigby blinked out of there immersed gazing; both shaking their head quickly from dazing too long and both took a step back. Mordecai and Rigby both stared at the phone, held within Mordecai's grasp, which had vibrated. Before Mordecai could notice what the raccoon was planning on doing, Rigby's outgoing hand was quickly moved behind his back; as if nothing had happened. Mordecai held his phone up and flipped it to reveal another message from Margaret. He shrugged, turned his shoulder away from Rigby, and started tapping on the keypad. Mordecai secretly blushed to himself at what he just felt for Rigby. But he wanted not to dwell on those feelings, thinking that it would be awkward if Rigby knew of his secret feelings for him.

While the avian continued to text, Rigby slowly turned his body around whilst flicking his tail to the side. Neither the raccoon nor the avian realized that Pops was still gone at this moment. But Rigby had a reason of forgetting about Pops; he was too distracted of what just happened.

Rigby's eye lids twitched as he imagined himself snatching that phone and thrusting it through the empty, store window. That phone… Margaret… of course… ruined his big chance of getting closer to Mordecai. He was so close to touching Mordecai's feathery hand… so close to getting to him. His body tensed up, wishing that he would be able to hold Mordecai in his arms, or vice versa. Rigby stared closely at his reflection in the window; the extra posters covering most of his reflection as they barricaded his vision to see what Mordecai was doing. The thought of really feeling the blue jay's body overwhelmed the raccoon as he imagined himself with Mordecai once again. Having the opportunity to touch his sensitive parts, to smooth his plumage, and to exchange kisses with him, lips upon beak, drove the raccoon to wanting… no! ... The thoughts drove Rigby into loving Mordecai even more! Oh how desperate he was for the sweet embracement of what he truly wanted to express for Mordecai. How bold he wanted to be with the avian and having the chance to pleasure him and to show his affection for him. To get in touch with his feathers and/or for him to feel the raccoon's furry coat would be a miracle. The rumination of himself being with Mordecai for the rest of his life would make all his fantasies come true.

Rigby tapped his feet and hands as he couldn't help but reflect how much he felt for Mordecai. He only wanted to be with Mordecai. But he kept feeling troubled as of what Mordecai would think of him.

_Would… would he love me back? Will… we ever be together?_

Suddenly, some memorable words echoed into his mind as he remembered of what Eileen told him…

_"I would have never… guessed that you were one… Why… does Mordecai know? Because… just to warn you but… __I don't think he's… in it for you."_

Rigby's body shook before he looked away from his reflection; since the thought of Mordecai not wanting him hurt him so. Was he only dreaming of something that could never come true? Would his love for his best friend be wasted away because it wasn't 'normal'?

A tear crept out of his eye as he quickly wiped it away.

_Calm down Rigby, you need to relax. You're thinking way too hard on the matter. Just… don't worry about it._

Rigby didn't want to ponder on those ambiguous questions of his and refocused back on reality. He straightened his back and glanced back at Mordecai, who was still texting to Margaret. The irritated raccoon snorted and looked around the gum-covered streets. Immediately, his brain clicked as he soon realized that Pops wasn't even near them.

"DUDE! WHERE'S POPS?"

Mordecai typed a few more before realizing what Rigby was talking about. His eyes widened from shock as soon as he flipped his phone.

"Ummm… I have no freaking idea, dude… wait… do you hear that?"

From afar, a jolly tune was being hummed as Rigby and Mordecai looked over the streets. There came Pops carrying about two bags from the 'Union Jack' store. The content lollipop man walked over and smiled with his eyes squint.

"Guess what I got while you two were lollygagging?" He pulled out the Union Jack that he wanted before, two London Olympics mugs, Demi' spoons, and a Wellington boot planter in dark blue.

"You two can have these! You both deserve them, since you both love the Olympics. That's quite a jolly good show!"

He gave the two special mugs to the both of them and Mordecai and Rigby thanked him.

"So, we're not going to the comic store?" Pops looked down and let his arms loose. Mordecai shrugged.

"Sorry Pops, but the comic store isn't even a comic store. It seems like this CHOM place is practically nothing. Let's just go to the arcade or somethin'."

"But, why don't we go to that book store over there?"

"Well… wait, What?" Mordecai and Rigby looked at the direction Pops pointed at and saw a HUGE two-story book store called Book'n. They were amazed that they didn't even see it in the first place. The store was plastered dark green and the inside looked as if it was really modern. Pops stepped closer to the other two, who were at lost-of-words.

"You two want to go and see this store? It looks like FUN!"

Mordecai and Rigby looked at each other and then glanced at Pops. Rigby commented,

"I don't know Pops. I'm not a huge fan of books per say. You Mordecai?"

The avian tilted his head and looked off without a response. Pops took even more steps ahead of the other two and looked behind him.

"You know, they could have comics!"

That was all it took before Mordecai and Rigby agreed to go, taking the chance to finding at least a comic isle in the book-filled store. Maybe the odds weren't against them after all.

...

On the far left side of the empty building that the three had just left behind, there were small dashed lines that pointed to a small ally way along the brick wall…

* * *

><p><em>*Ding a ling - Ding a ling*<em>

The doorbell chimed its sharp tune as Pops pushed the wooden door open. From concrete to a soft and short carpet-like material, Mordecai and Rigby followed behind the already excited lollipop man. Surprisingly, the book store was humongous; full of vast collections of volumes, series, biographies, philosophies, magazines, and fiction to non-fiction books. The store seemed to stretch about a hundred yards. Over five thousand books were piled up, stored upon rows of shelves, as they towered among the customers. But there were even more books in the second story above them, as some spiraling stairs led up to it, plus an elevator. Typically, this place seemed to be heaven for any book worm.

Pops started to wonder off ahead of Mordecai and Rigby, who were really trying to take it all in. After a couple of minutes of standing there, they blinked out and started walking around. They were so determined to find the comics, but in a place like this, it might take a while. Mordecai paused and looked for any signs for direction.

"Dude, there's like no signs to help guide us to the comics. Maybe we should ask one of the employees who work here." Rigby placed his arms over one another and shifted his nose.

"Nah, we can find it ourselves. Besides, I don't know need anyone's help. I have a sixth sense that can locate comic books from a mile away!" Rigby shifted left and right, with his tail swaying behind him, like he was some sort of ninja and started sniffing like a dog; not putting his nose on the ground though. Mordecai smirked and shook his head from Rigby's silly behavior.

"And let me guess, your 'sixth' sense was what lead us to that 'comic store' over there?"

"Stop Talking!" Rigby held his finger up and jogged down an isle filled to the brim with books based on auto-biographies. Mordecai snickered and followed behind the investigative raccoon.

After finding nothing that hinted the idea of comics nearby, Mordecai commented behind Rigby; who was still scouring the isles.

"You know, I think can find it way faster than you can... How about a race to see who can find them first?"

Rigby turned around and playfully scoffed out loud. "IT'S ON BIRDIE! The only rule to follow is that you can't ask employees for help." Mordecai did his 'hmm hmm' and smirked.

"Don't worry, I don't cheat." The race was on as the two of them went separate ways.

* * *

><p>Rigby searched from here to there, looking desperately for any sign of comic books. He had a very competitive spirit and he was not going let his true love beat him. He looked at mostly every isle in the first floor; from fiction to non-fiction, romance to mystery, and horror to drama.<p>

The raccoon wandered to the front of the store and looked back at the book isles. He swore that he should look at the second floor, but he knew that Mordecai probably had a head start up there. So he decided to try his luck again, besides, he figured he might have missed it.

Before he walked to the furthest right isle to restart, Rigby heard someone speak behind his back.

"Hello customer, may I assist you in anything?"

Rigby turned to the sound of the being as he noticed a parrot anthro, a few inches taller than himself, was in front of him. The mostly red parrot guy was wearing a plain green employee shirt and brown pants and was wearing small oval glasses that dilated his eyes. He wore a nametag that spelled out 'Jeremy'. Rigby pondered on rather talking to him or not.

_Hmmm… I guess Mordecai wouldn't mind me cheating; if he doesn't know about it._

"Ummm… Actually, yeah! Are there any comic books in this book joint?"

Jeremy looked down at the raccoon and flapped his wings against his chin.

"I think it's… come to think of it, I don't know where it's at here. I just got hired here two days ago."

Rigby gave a smug and noticed how nervous the parrot appeared to be.

"So, first days on a job, huh?… that's cool." He looked at the wide window behind the parrot, to the outside world, and noticed the old brick building which had the CHOM advertisement. Curious still as to what he saw last night, Rigby questioned Jeremy.

"So… do you know when that place, CHOM, that building across the street, closed down? Was it ever a comic store too?" He pointed out to the window that showed the empty building. The parrot turned his black and white beak and examined the crusty, old building with the vague sign that said CHOM.

"Hmmm, I've actually wanted to figure that out myself. So I did my research and found out that that building has never been a comic store. And it has never closed down too. It's strangely always been an empty building with that advertisement. For some reason unknown to most, someone only lets it's advertisement flash about four times a week at night. People have investigated the building, but so many beings don't know what the building is about. The only clue about the place is that it secretly gives these 'invitations' to certain individuals. Hardly anyone finds an invitation to there. In fact, only those certain people who get invitations know where the place really is at and they never tell. I looked back there once and there were no extra doors that lead to any place called CHOM. The building is completely empty! It's like a decoy to confuse people or something."

He paused and fixed his glasses before he continued.

*Coughs* "I don't know what it's all about but whatever goes on in there, it is surely kept a secret. All I know is that sometimes, immature teens tend to put up dumb posters saying random things that insult the place and then switching the posters around the building. But anyways, I bet that we might have a comic area for you if you need one." The parrot turned and headed down one of the isles. Rigby grimaced at what the employee said.

_I knew it wasn't a comic store! But… An 'invitation'… To CHOM… That's… weird… what is it? What is it all about? What are 'they' hiding there?_

Jeremy stopped and motioned Rigby to follow, which interrupted the raccoon's train of thought. The raccoon shrugged and followed in his tracks. Jeremy smiled, shook Rigby's hand (who was surprised by the parrot's action), and continued to talk.

"So, I'm guessing this is your first time here, right?"

Rigby scoffed and looked at some of the books on the shelves.

"Yes, I'm a first timer. I don't often read books like my friend, Mordecai."

"That's fine. I read books ALL the time. I'm a huge fanatic in reading Shakespeare."

"And I'm a huge fanatic on reading books from Dr. Suess." They both chuckled and headed down another isle, passing along busy readers. The two talked awhile, getting to know each other and what they liked to do. Jeremy was very smart and loved talking about poetry and classical stories. He plays board games often and, of course, reads tons of books.

Books, books, books; that's all he really liked talking about. Rigby was getting sort of annoyed as he really couldn't stay on the same subject with him, since he barely got into books himself. So Jeremy did all talking, and Rigby did all of the fast-paced walking; still looking desperately for the comics.

(Twenty minutes later…)

_"…Turning again toward childish treble, pipes_

_And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,_

_That ends this strange eventful history,_

_Is second childishness and mere oblivion,_

_Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."_

The parrot held himself tall and he felt like the world has been lifted off his shoulders.

"And that's the end of one of Shakespeare's poems, 'All the World's a Stage'. Very impressive that I could remember all of that, right?"

Rigby's ears felt like they were bleeding as he looked through some manly fitness magazines, to keep his mind off of Shakespeare. He admired some of the pictures of men models before realizing he was still near Jeremy. He changed the pages to look for any sign of women models.

"Hmmm… you know, I thought you were supposed to be helping me find the comics. But all you're doing is stating some poetry to me. Dude, you remind of one of friends, Eileen. She can talk on forever about economics and such!" He finally found a page in the magazine of a female model with a male crocodile model. It was hard for him not to stare at the crocodile's muscles though; so big and flawless.

But Jeremy didn't notice what Rigby was looking at. Instead, his jaw dropped to what he had just heard.

"Wait… you know who Eileen is? T... T... The mole from the coffee shop? The one with the cheeky smile and those gracious glasses?"

Taking his eyes off the magazine page, Rigby refocused on Jeremy; lowering one of his brows and raising the other one up.

"Ummm… yeah I do. Why?"

The parrot's body, including his feathers full of color, shook with nervousness and yet excitement. He was only able to pull up a smile that made Rigby feel uncomfortable.

"I… I…"

Rigby put the magazine away and gave a smug towards the parrot. He knew what Jeremy was thinking due to the fact that it sounded like the bird's heart was pounding, his glasses barely fogging, and his breath short.

"OH… do you like this Eileen?"

Jeremy shook his head up and down in agreement. Rigby clamped his hands and pointed at him before continuing.

"And you don't have the balls to tell her yourself?"

Once again, the parrot shook his head. Jeremy, by habit, pronounced another quote from Shakespeare.

"My love is a fever, longing still…"

Rigby shrugged and notion the parrot to follow him.

"Well, I don't know how this fever of yours is gonna get cured, but I surely wouldn't want it to be cured by her." He chuckled to himself before realizing Jeremy's face, who was glaring him down from the mean comment. Rigby immediately died down his laugh. (Even though Jeremy was nerdy, the bird looked and was bigger than Rigby.)

"Sorry dude, it was just a joke. I actually have grown fond of her. I think Eileen has a great personality, she really is…" he paused and examined how the parrot resembled the look of a nerd.

"ummm… I think she would actually come to like you. Do you see her all the time?" The parrot shrugged and tilt his head.

"Usually three times a week, precisely. I usually read a book in the coffee shop and she sometimes comes and talks to me. But I always choke up when I talk to her."

Rigby was shocked at how anyone would get choked up from Eileen. I mean come on... it's Eileen! But he said nothing that would dishearten Jeremy.

"You know what? I'll tell you some pointers on how to pick up chicks, okay? I know exactly what she likes. I'll help you out if you can help me find some comics, deal?" He put up a fist in the air, waiting for a fist-bump from the parrot. But Jeremy just stared at it, all confused.

"Ummm… you're not trying to beat me up, are you?"

_Really? _Rigby slapped his face before motioning Jeremy to come along with him.

"You got a lot to learn dude."

"But don't I know a lot already?"

Rigby grimaced and said nothing; as he and Jeremy continued to scour the isles for the comics.

* * *

><p>(Thirty minutes ago, right after the 'race' had begun.)<p>

His skinny legs jogged along the carpeted ground, stretching as far as they could, as Mordecai headed to the elevator. With a press of the button, Mordecai stepped into the modern elevator with see-through glass that surrounded it. When the doors closed, Mordecai was lifted with the elevator and was being carried to the second floor. Mordecai turned around and looked through the glass. He could see the whole first floor of the place. He also could see Rigby peering at books through one of the isles. Mordecai snickered at his attempt before a wall blocked his vision of Rigby. The elevator finally stopped rising and opened its doors to the avian. To his amazement, the second floor looked even larger than the first. The lighting was mostly golden while brown shelves stood up with full of books, which still stacked about eight feet high. Mordecai knew one thing for sure.

"Rigby is missing out…" he mouthed to himself as he stepped slowly out, examining everything he saw in there. He saw some college students at work, old teachers, and some employees walking around the vast area. He walked through one of the isles, streaming all sorts of books in different sizes and colors. It was quite unbelievable that this store was so HUGE! But at the same time, there seemed to be no comics in sight.

After stepping through about twenty isles, Mordecai finally sat down at one of the fancy tables and continued to gaze at it all. In the background, soft opera music played while the cool air conditioning felt so refreshing. The avian looked over at an employee, talking to some other customers, and tapped his fingers.

_Not gonna ask them for any help… I do not cheat, I do not cheat…_

Mordecai got himself up and went through one of the isles he previously was at. After a while of looking, he really felt like giving up. Before he left the final isle to head downstairs, Mordecai caught a glimpse of some books on a shelf that caught his eyes. They were under a tag that categorized them as 'Homosexuality'. But it was really well hidden on the bottom of the shelf and had a thin layer of dust on them. Mordecai squatted down and blew on the books; a cloud of dust particles spread around him. Only about twenty books sat there untouched, which seemed like they were in this condition for quite a while.

_Huh… should I read one? I've always wanted to see a book that supported gay individuals...wait… Is anyone looking at me? _

He gazed to his left. No one was in sight. He then gazed to his right; which also had no one in sight. He looked right back at the books and quickly grasped most of them without reading the titles. He then power-walked to one of the far tables off at a corner. which provided a small desk lamp, and hid his books under his wings. He didn't feel like looking for the comics anymore since he spent so much time today looking for nothing. He just wanted to do something else for once, even though reading was sort of out of his character. But the avian was curious enough to know what other authors thought about homosexuality, hoping that they're opinion would help benefit his own. Besides, it beats looking over and over again for some comics.

_Rigby can win the race for all I care._

He smirked at the thought of Rigby bragging about himself before sitting at the convenient and well hidden table. He dropped the pile of books and pulled up the first one called Homosexuality: Debating the Issues. He skimmed through the pages, feeling the crevices of the book. It talked mainly about the actual 'issues' that homosexuality was causing in society. There were chapters that were named 'Born this Way Trap', 'Uncle Sam Doesn't Want You', and "Homosexuality Against the Church.' It also talked about the 'The Homosexual Movement', as if the movement was actually horrible and that it should be put into a halt. The avian rolled his eyes at the arrogant author's notes that suggested that every homosexual's goal was to make a 'sin' a good thing.

_What? How are true feelings and love a sin? This author's just using religion to explain her case._

He threw the book down, not caring if it looked neatly placed or not, and picked the next book. The red with yellow encrusted book gave the title Gay Rights or Wrongs. As he thought that religion wasn't a big part of this book, he was wrong. The book talked even more about how wrong the gay lifestyle was through many religious philosophers. Mordecai threw that book down and turned another book open. Looking through the paragraphs and phrases like 'men should only belong with a woman and vice versa' and 'gay marriage should be banned since it is not common in our society', Mordecai gritted his teeth and skid the book across the table. Slamming his head upon his hand, he picked another book and read parts of it. Every twenty minutes or so he got rid of a disappointing book and grabbed another book. He was getting ticked off that none of these books were supporting gay rights. Only cruel and hurtful expressions of hatred toward homosexuals were shown on the fabric of each page that he read.

_REALLY? NOT even ONE book that supports those who have different sexual orientations? REALLY?_

A few hours passed by and before he picked one of the few remaining books left from the pile, his phone vibrated again. He sighed and flipped his phone up. It was nice that Margaret and he were keeping in contact in all, but it seemed like she was texting him every five minutes during his investigation on the books. It was weird to him though that he was getting annoyed by Margaret, the first love of his life.

During the hours that they have been texting to each other back and forth, they somehow got themselves in a debate about which came first: the chicken or the egg?

'So I think it was the chicken, because if there's no chicken, then there would be no egg :) LOL'

Mordecai quickly typed down a response.

'Totally agree with you sweety. LOL'

He then hanged up his phone and continued skimming down the pages of another book. The more he read, the more he got irritated on how each author talked about the wrongs of being gay and that in any way possible, it should be banned. Minute after minute passed by while his body quivered from every word he skimmed. He wanted to stop reading the pages so badly, which were making him feel like shit. But he was desperate as to why they hated fags so much; mostly because of religious beliefs. Tears slowly crept through and stood on the edges of his eyes lids. He scraped them away and lowered his brows.

_It's sad that they would want to discriminate us just because we find the same sexes to be… attractive. They would rather treat us with no dignity because of our different interests, instead of accepting us for who we are. _

The books were supposed to be used to 'inspire' homosexuals to change their way and stick with being 'hidden in the closet'... and/or straight. But the books had only rallied Mordecai's thoughts and made him want to go against these selfish and controversial views. He felt closer to his gay beliefs and felt all fired up. Maybe he could write his own opinions that supported gay rights; if he had the balls to do that. But unfortunately, he knew that staying 'hidden' was the best thing to do for now, since he didn't want his best friends to think that he was weird or something. He felt like a freakin' coward from the thought, but it was the better to be one than to be disliked from his friends.

Oh the irony of him hating the books, since he never wanted to show his 'gay' side to society. He felt like the books had one thing right; he felt more accepted into the community. Yet, he felt disappointed at his own display. But someday… he would want to tell the truth. But for now, he held his book idea on hold and decided to stick with just the studying the many opinions of homosexuality.

* * *

><p><strong>*<strong>Many times in his life, Mordecai had questioned himself on rather to reveal his other passion for the same sex, while still liking the opposite sex. But nevertheless, his question was never answered. Ever since the horrible incident, that occurred in his sixth grade year, the avian has been emotionally and mentally scarred for most of his life. Yet, he tries not to dread on his past experience and only takes the time to remember the good memories that occurred later on; especially the times he hung with Rigby. No matter what happened, the two were always there for each other. But Mordecai felt more attached to Rigby over the years and had true feelings for him; which were always stronger then what he felt for Samson before. And now, he felt as if he had a secret crush that was blossoming for the first time since seventh grade. He couldn't help his curiosities, even if he was dating another. He felt bad that he was sort of crushing on Rigby while he had Margaret as his girlfriend. He knew that it was the right thing to do to just stop crushing on his best friend. But he couldn't help it; his love instincts were strong when he was near the handsome raccoon. He has held it for too long, and he desparaetly wanted to tell Rigby the 'awkward' truth.

At the end of the day, Mordecai would do anything for his pal. Anything… or would he?

* * *

><p>*Beep Beep*<p>

Mordecai laid another book on the ground and grabbed a small and frigid-looking book, the last one from the pile. He then got his phone out and read the message.

'OMG! Can't wait till tomorrow! Are you too chicken to come and face me at golf? LOL :D'

Mordecai grinned as he thought of something clever to say.

'Yes, I am in fact a chicken. TOO MUCH of a chicken. But I'll still be there! Wanna know why I'm such a chicken?'

He sat his phone to the side and read the title of the blue book called Why You Should Give a Damn about Gay People. Shocked from what he read, the bird turned the pages immediately. It showed the studies of how much the government and state governments have gone to make gay people become like 'second-class citizens.' It promoted the primary ideal of all being equalized and showed special groups that help and support homosexuals. Mordecai's heart skipped with joy from reading only a few pages of its contents.

_FINALLY, a book that has true meaning!_

He continued skimming through it before a piece of paper, attached to a silver chain, fell out of it. The sheet, colored in black with white-bold words, fell on the table; the metal of the chain clanged against the wood. Mordecai took notice of it and scooted his seat to the side while he grabbed the piece of paper, which seemed to be in water-proof seal. He held it up to the lamp and read its content.

***Special Invitation to the club, CHOM***

***Come party with us HOMOS!***

***Open from Tuesday to Friday***

***11:00 p.m. to whenever the party Stops!***

***Near Book'n / Can't miss the Flashing Sign***

***Follow the Green DASHES!***

***See you There!***

Mordecai froze stiff as he hid the sheet immediately. He didn't know that the CHOM place, that was at first a comic store to them, was actually a homosexual club! Maybe the heavenly angels from above sent this to him as he found it odd to find it in a book. But… oh well. Before he could secretly flip the invitation over, his phone beeped again. Knowing that Margaret was responding to his message from earlier, he held her off for a bit and looked on the back of the invitation; only to see, with his wondering eyes, a bar code.

_Hmmm… why does it have a bar code?_

Before he could guess on the matter, he heard a familiar voice booming at him.

"**HEY MORDECAI! Over here!"**

Mordecai twisted his head as he saw Rigby with an employee (which was Jeremy) from afar. The raccoon was carrying some comics with a wide grin on his face. Mordecai immediately looked back at his mess of books and freaked out.

_OH SHIT!_

He rushed off and grabbed all the books around the area and found the nearest shelf that was empty. He threw the books on the shelf, grabbed another random book, and sat back down on the seat. Best thing about him doing it so quickly was that Rigby didn't even realize what he just did.

"Oh, hey Rigby, What's up?" Mordecai acted as if nothing much had happened.

Rigby gave a smug and shook his head, all cocky and such.

"Guess who found the comics near the children's area? OOOOOHH!" He held up some limited edition issues from Marvel and DC. Mordecai chuckled and commented.

"Yeah, you won… with the help of that employee." He sat the random book down and pointed at Jeremy. Rigby laid the comics on the table and glanced at Jeremy. Jeremy got the idea from Rigby's glance and quickly put his name tag away. Rigby smirked.

"No, he's a friend, not an employee!"

*chuckle* "Whatever dude, you win, fair and square! Okay?"

Mordecai smiled and rolled his eyes. He didn't care what Rigby's lame excuse was of his victory. As long as Rigby was happy, he was happy.

Rigby agreed with his friend and pronounced himself the winner. He did a victory dance around the table while Mordecai checked his phone. He still hadn't read Margaret's message from earlier. So he pulled it up and read it.

'Idk? Why are you too chicken to go and face me at golf? :P'

He smirked and responded back.

'Because I thought that the chicken always came first before the egg! LOL :D'

Mordecai sent the message and got up. He stretched himself and got to know Jeremy and what he does for fun and such; while Rigby kept reading some of the comics he got. After a while, Jeremy was called by his boss and had to go work in the back with him. Jeremy said his goodbyes and got phone numbers from Mordecai and Rigby.

"Hey Rigby, we got to hang out more often dude!"

Rigby smiled and did a fist-bump with Jeremy; the parrot messed up a little with the new gesture but Rigby figured that it counts. Rigby then commented,

"Yeah and we can try to get you closer with Eileen too!"

Mordecai glanced at Rigby, in shock.

"Wait… what did you say?"

Rigby froze as his fur stiffened from gooosebumps.

_Oops… he still thinks that Eileen and I are stil-_

In an instant, Rigby panicked when he realized what he said. He forgot that he and Eileen were pretending to be dating each other so that he not have made any possible clue or idea that he was really in love for Mordecai; and was secretly gunning for him. (But Eileen and Rigby were only 'dating' just for now).

Rigby hushed Jeremy from talking by holding his hand up. He immediately tried to cover up his mistake.

"NOTHING! I said that… he likes seeing… the… eye… lean glassware and he wanted to get one! Yeah, that's it! Glassware! Hehehe…" He faked a smile before pushing Jeremy away towards his boss. Jeremy said nothing and walked away; inspecting his own glasses.

Mordecai eyed Rigby, who was as nervous as he could be, but the blue jay decided to ignore it; only picking the comics up from the table and handing them to the raccoon.

"Come on, let's just get going. It's getting late." He looked down and noticed that he still had the CHOM invitation. He held on to it and kept it out of Rigby's sight. They headed to the elevator and took it down. Along the way, Rigby talked about what the CHOM building and all the rumors that he figured out from Jeremy. Mordecai only listened to him and shook his head. He decided not tell Rigby what he figured out, due to the fact that it would be hard to tell his friend of exactly where he found the invitation; which was from the 'homosexual' isle. It would only make Rigby suspicious. Besides, he figured it was best to try to find the place… himself.

After walking down the final isles before leaving Book'n, the two were able to find Pops buying some books on how to make specific teas. He was waiting in line behind another folk and noticed Mordecai and Rigby from behind.

"Oh hello again! Jolly to see that you two found the comics that you wanted!" The boys agreed and waited patiently behind Pops. They told him of the rumors of the empty building and made silly predictions on what it could be. Mordecai, though, still didn't tell them about his little invitation he had gotten and joined in on making irrational predictions with his friends.

Time flew by and while they waited in line, Mordecai's wing brushed the side of Rigby's head by accident. Rigby flinched and almost dropped his comics. But he felt those feathers and the warmth of his friend's body beside him; which made him smile. On the other hand, Mordecai realized what involuntary action he did towards his friend and apologized quickly.

"Oh, sorry Rigby. I was zoning…" He scratched his beak and looked upon the comics the raccoon held. Thinking back during the time spent here, he felt bad for not really looking for those comics. What if Rigby never found them? That would have sucked for the both of them! Mordecai wanted to congratulate his friend on his hard work and all the extra things that he did to help each other been able to go on the last night's dates. But what?

_A gift? Money?... Gosh, what about… something about the race?_

He snapped his fingers and got Rigby's undivided attention.

"Hey you know what, Rigby? Did I ever declare that whoever won the race… got a prize?"

Rigby looked up and thought about what the avian said.

_Ummm… no… but he doesn't know, right?_

"Oh yes Mordecai, you did promise a prize! I remember now!" Rigby smiled brightly as of hoping to get something awesome from him. Mordecai scratched his head and shrugged, knowing that Rigby literally lied to his face about the prize issue.

"Well… what do you want?"

"A kiss fro-" He stuttered over his words before changing them quickly. "I mean… we have… to investigate that CHOM building! I want to see if we can find anything there."

Mordecai peered over at the building, with the sunset lighting its contents. He figured that he probably should take the time and investigate the area if he wanted to find this dance club of homosexuals. He was one curious avian.

"Ok dude, deal!" And they both shook on it.

* * *

><p>Before long, the three were outside again and stood in front of the <span>CHOM<span> building. It's only advertisement/sign wasn't flashing yet the sun hovered above the skyline and gave the sign a faint glow. Rigby walked around to the side of the building and saw an alley way that he missed earlier.

"Down here guys!" The raccoon scurried along the building in hope of finding a secret door or passageway. But all there was were some leftover cardboard, a dumpster, trash cans, and posters that read 'Special SALE'.

"Huh… I wonder who moved this poster back here." Rigby scooted trashcans out of the way while Pops and Mordecai skimmed the walls of the CHOM building and the wall of another store that was only five feet away from each other. The dark alley way seemed to have stretched way back and around the brick building. Rigby decided to run on all four and ran a complete 360 degrees around the building. While he was gone, Mordecai noticed very small dashed lines of green that pointed to the very misplaced dumpster. He wanted to investigate even more and actually try to find the passage, but he figured that he wouldn't risk anything just yet.

After thirty minutes of searching for a passage, Rigby, Pops and Mordecai (who knew where the club was, 'probably') gave up and headed home. The sun disappeared from their vision as night time crept upon them.

When they got back to the house, it appeared that everyone had left for the night. So the three made themselves some sandwiches and Rigby continued to talk about the CHOM building. He wanted to know what the secret to that place was so badly. But Mordecai guessed that if his friend ever knew, then he wouldn't be happy with the club at all.

Mordecai saw the club as a retreat; a chance to experience a sensation he dreamt about his whole entire life would be grand. He wanted to be a part of that club but not let anyone know of his secret intentions and curiosity. All he wanted to do was to see what it would be like there without worrying what his other friends thought about him if knowing he visited this place.

While Rigby continued on with the rumors of CHOM, Mordecai was kind of getting tired of hearing Rigby talk about the same subject for the whole mealtime. But Mordecai could only chew his food slowly as he waited for most of the night to be over.

It was a new moon tonight as Mordecai and Rigby laid in their beds. Rigby turned his covers and made his trampoline creak. He snored out loud and flicked his tail. As for Mordecai, his eyes were still shot open and were scanning the ceiling. The avian stretched his back, slowly got up from his bed, and grabbed his phone, green sweater, watch, wallet, and invitation. After putiing on his attirement, he tip toed across the room and slightly opened the door. He looked back at his friend, feeling bad for not bringing him along, and walked out of the room; closing the door slowly behind him. His feet tippy toed their way down the stairs and scooted out the front door. He gazed at the stars and breathed in the cool wind that enveloped the calm night. He lifted his wing and took notice of the time, which was 11:36 p.m. He felt as though this was going to be a long night/day. But for now, he was ready to go off to the place that use to be nothing, but is now an escape.

He was ready to face his hidden desires.

He was ready to face... the music...

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks Again for reading this chapter! Yeah,<strong> **been very busy once again. It's been very difficult for me to keeping up with all of this story while trying to get a job (at Walmart) and working with my dad, and getting school done and such. I think this chapter was kind of boring for me to type down because I haven't gotten to the good parts yet! Please, if you are confused on whats going on or you just want to chat, please contact Me! :D **

**Also, IF YOU ARE ANONYMOUS OR A MEMBER OR WHATEVER, PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT OR REVIEW FOR THIS! :) I would LOVE to hear what you guys have to say! The more comments, the more I'll work on this story! I really love typing this story in general and I REALLY DO APPRECIATE EVERYONE'S NICE, INFOMAL, CRITICIZING (OR MEAN) COMMENTS! Speak your opinion OUT because you have the right to! YAY RIGHTS! Oh, and please don't be offended if I hurt your religious beliefs. Please, it's ONLY part of the story.**

**AND GO MORBY! All original Regular Show characters belong to Cartoonetwork and J.G Quintel ! **

**Shakespeare's poems belong to... well, himself! :D**


	7. Chapter 7: Welcome to the Club

_11:52 p.m._

Putting his arm back to his side to hide his watch, the avian within his old, green sweater walked along the cool concrete as the night winds blew amongst him. The invisible moon hovered above him, like it was hiding from the looks of him, while the streets were lit up from the fluorescent lights that hung above. The avian looked around his calm environment and saw nothing but just cars parked parallel on the sides of the road. Every now and then, motorcyclists zoomed by and honk their horns and put up random hand gestures towards Mordecai; their wheels speeding through the streets while pieces of litter sprung from the fast movements and fluttered to the sides.

Mordecai continued to walk down the deserted streets right beside Bammer road, which were part of the 'bad' side of town. Many break-ins, stealing, and gang hang-outs have occurred in these areas and about fifty people have died since the past fifteen years on these very streets. But he knew that, yet he forgot to bring something with him that would protect his vulnerable body from harm's way.

_Great thinking, genius…_

Mordecai put his hood up; which cascaded a shadow upon his feathered head. His beak only stood out from the hood's reach as he breathed in and out slowly. It was quiet… too quiet. Mordecai was usually bold when going to places at night if there was at least someone near him that he knew of or who didn't look like trouble. But there was no one… absolutely no one… in sight. Mordecai shift his eyes to his feet as he looked down. He felt like he was being secretly followed by someone, yet no sounds dwindled in the distance. He remained calm and continued tapping his feet to his own beat. Stepping over cracks along the way, he wondered past the closed down stores, each having chains on their doors and windows; some being really protected by cages that surrounded most of the complex. The avian could only depict very few items in each store as of which faintly gleamed from the street lights.

Seconds became minutes as he walked pass, yet, another street light. His shadow contracted inward to him, from behind, and stretched outward from his form every time his body crossed underneath the tannish light. He sighed and looked at the British store that they had visited earlier. He remembered the Olympic mugs Pops had given to him and Rigby and thought what he did with it.

_Oh… wait... I think I might have left mine…in the __Book'n__ store… great…_

Mordecai rolled his eyes and figured that he would grab it later. He yawned and shook his head.

_I can't be tired now! I'm about to go to a club! _

He started jogging from where he was; he needed a good run if he wanted to stay awake for the… _partay__!_

After he commenced some quick steps, his ear holes rang as he heard in the distance… laughing… echoing from the other side of the street. He pivoted and turned sharply to where he heard the creepiness. Sweat traced down the side of his face while he stood and skimmed the premises. Silence took its toll. He saw no movement; no tipped over trashcans… he saw nothing. Mordecai scratched his head and continued with his jogging; only that his feet went in a faster pace. One thing for sure, he wanted to avoid 'trouble' at all costs.

It didn't take long before Mordecai witnessed the very bright and obvious CHOM advertisement from afar; its neon light casting away the dark of the night. Mordecai's eyes dilated at the sight of it as he took the final blocks of reaching the building. When he got closer to it, the whisper of the cool winds despaired as he heard the chilling laughter once again. But… it literally felt like it was coming from behind. His body curved over as he saw two small figures laughing and running toward him. Wrinkling paper, that went against the cool winds, was heard by the nervous bird as the two… teens, wearing different colored sweaters, ran past him. They paid no mind to the hooded jay as they went up to the lit building. Mordecai froze from the sight of the trashy-looking teens and then followed about twenty feet behind them, taking his time as he stared upon them; one of them was wearing a blue sweater while the other wore a red sweater. They both had loose, long and golden chains that hung low from their necks. The teen in blue got out two individual posters and laid them on the solid ground.

"You got the tape, Jake?" The teen in the red sweater got the tape out quickly and plastered them on.

"Hehehe… this will go great with the collage!" They held the posters and put them among the rest of the thousand posters overlaying each other. Their posters were hung in the middle, making them clearly stick out by contrast, and the tow trouble-makers hurried away amongst the night. Mordecai slowly came out after they were gone and gleamed at the poster-covered building. It was covered with posters from the many years that the building had been up (and who knew how many years that has been).

Mordecai tilt his head as he focused on the two recent posters that were just casted upon the rest.

'**THIS PLACE…'**

Mordecai shifted his eyes to the right.

'…**SUCKS BALLS!'**

Pissed from the poster's message made by two immature teens, which were way passed their curfew, Mordecai grabbed both posters and yanked them down. He crumpled each one together, (the smushing of paper crumbling underneath the bird's grasp which was sounding as sweet as it could have ever been), and tossed the paper to an open trashcan about eight feet away.

_And he… missed…_

Mordecai shamefully walked over, picked the crumpled mess, and dunked it into the can. He imagined himself hearing a basketball buzzer that marked the ending of a game.

_OHHHHH, SCORE! Mordecai shoots the winning basket! He Wins!_

He spun his hands around and cheered quietly; like a crowd was cheering him on. After his 'victory', he then stopped and stared down the alley way that was right besides the CHOM building; dark, ominous looking with a few rats scurrying along the sides. Mordecai swallowed hard as he carried his eyes and vaguely saw the neon green lines on the brick wall; which were only a knee level high to his height. He shuffled within his sweater pocket and got his 'invitation' out. He turned it around and looked at the bar code still located on the bottom of the slip.

"Might as well start looking for some bar scanner… I guess." He held it to his side as he followed the green dashed lines until it lead to the side of the closed up dumpster he saw earlier today. It smelled like… well, rotten trash. The sides were covered with molten foods; which were all dried up and stained among the green. It was weird that it had obsolete food in it, since this CHOM place was so empty. And supposebly, it had no customers for the building… or did it? The avian furthered his investigations as he could tell that many have thrown heavy objects at the dumpster; dents were obviously noticeable on its sides and front as it resembled, probably, the frustration people had on trying to find this hidden place.

Mordecai walked to one of the sides of the dumpster and tapped on its side. He waited for a second but nothing happened.

_Come on, Mordecai. It's not that simple…_

Mordecai knocked on the side again and walked around the dumpster, only knocking all over its sides and front of it. Nothing happened after his decrepit attempt to figure out something. Or Anything! The avian held out his invitation and held it above, below, and near the sides, hoping the bar code could signal anything. But still nothing happened. Mordecai stood back and pondered for a certain amount of time.

_Well… what about the inside of it?_

Mordecai held his breath as he cautiously opened the dumpster. He revealed an atrocious, contemptible, foul, and nauseating aroma that turned his face pale and green. He coughed out loud and revolted from the wretched smell.

_HOLY Shi-... I know what smells worse than Muscleman's armpits now…_

He coughed it out, while gasping for fresh air, as he slammed the tops immediately. He put his hand on the other wall of the alley way and breathed in and out; taking his time to catch fresh air again while gasping for life. After awhile, Mordecai was able to pull himself up from witnessing that… stench. He got annoyed that he couldn't even find the stupid entrance to this place. He kicked the dumpster and walked back and forth. He looked at the invitation again and re-read it verbatim.

"Follow the green dashes… follow the green dashes… hmmm, worth a shot I guess…" He went back to where the dashes started at and put his head against the rough surface of the CHOM building. He squinted his eyes, crouched down while balancing his legs, and held his lip up as he (literally) followed against the green lines; his face sliding among them. In his line of vision, Mordecai could only see the side of the cruddy dumpster from afar. He flapped his wing against the wall and he closely put his right ear hole against the wall. He listened as he continued to slowly move his way toward the dumpster. The more he got closer to the dumpster, the more he heard small beats echoing from the wall.

_How did I miss this noise?_ Mordecai pursued on as he held out his invitation. From someone else's point of view, they would have seen an avian pushing along a brick wall and looking attentively at the nasty and tall dumpster. But in Mordecai's perspective, he was only a foot away from the filthy box before a hidden and unnoticeable scanner, about three centimeters in length, came into sight; its contents disguised on the bottom corner of the dumpster and was colored the same green as it's disguise. It was shooting its beam of sensory toward the concrete ground. He froze in place before wielding the invitation's bar code toward the scanner's light. In moments, the scanner was able to convert the barcode and decode it. With a few clinking noises and gears shifting beneath the dumpster, Mordecai got up from his crouching stance and stood in amazement as the dumpster started shifting from its current position. The metal clanged together as it spread from the ground and it lifted itself up. It then laid on its side as none of the trash within the filthy box fell out. The dumpster revealed what was beneath itself; a secret passageway; deep and dark, which was hidden amongst the alley way. The hole inside was completely dark and ominous-looking as the bird stood amongst the stairs that lead to a forbidden place (to his kind. I mean, he practically stole an invitation to go to this club). There was a vaguely painted '6' above the hole as well. Mordecai looked behind himself and looked upon the dark sky with the hidden full moon. After gaining some courage, he took his hood off and began his steps down the stairs into the hidden hole.

While he stepped down the hard stairs for about a couple of minutes, he heard the screeching gears wheel their way as the dumpster cover-up was shifted back into its original position. Its weight lay upon the hole that blocked the avian from the view of the outside world right after he stepped on to the last step of the stairway. Mordecai stood still; his breath shortened as he feared for the worst. He then felt a sharp tug on his body as if something had pulled him somewhere. He tried to resist but to his amazement, the pulling immediatly stopped. After a few seconds passed from being completely being freaked out, the startled avian could faintly hear 'hard style music' or 'trance music' (it was hard to tell) that boomed from somewhere. He looked around the pitch blackness until his eyes wondered upon lights that flashed from small cracks of lines that formed a rectangle. The glowing rectangle seemed to be a few hundred meters away from where he stood in the tenebrosity. Mordecai shrugged to himself.

_Guess that's the party…_

He smiled, relied on his instincts and led himself to the lights while picking up the pace; even though his heart was racing from all the uncertainty that he was getting himself into. He stopped in mid-track, felt behind himself, and realized that a black wall blocked him from turning back. It seems as if the stairs had miraculously disappeared. _Weird…_

His feet padded along the hard and yet vaguely seen ground as the nervous and yet excited bird walked up to the rectangle; which was now identified as a door. Red and purple lights flashed from the openings that outlined the door; the lights creaking out through Mordecai's feet while scattering throughout the dim ground. The hard style music (which could was now heard easier) continued to boom and had the door vibrating. But it sounded so… epic. (And not the bad type of epic). Mordecai's heart pumped faster as he knocked on the door. He looked up and noticed a slide-door that was only big enough for hands to go through. (But in this case, he should have thought that eyes could look through it too.)

The door immediately slid after a few seconds passed, reveling two large and dark eyes. Mordecai could barely see a scar go through one of the eyes, yet he said nothing about it. The being behind the door spoke loudly, trying to compete with the blaring music.

"WHAT'S THE PASSWORD?"

Mordecai's body stiffened as he tilted his head.

_What, password?_

"Ummm…" He immediately looked at his invitation; his chain dangling on the side of wing. He skimmed through it to see if the invitation left any clues for the password.

"Come party with us HOMOS…"

_Wait, why is 'Homos' all capitalized and missed out of pla-_

Mordecai coughed and cleared his throat.

"Is it Homos?"

"WHAT? SPEAK UP!"

"IS IT HOMOS, SIR?"

"HOBOS? WHERE?"

"NOWHER-... I MEAN NO! I SAID HOOO-MOOOOSS!"

"HOSES? MOSES?"

Mordecai slapped his forehead and held up the invitation; which he pointed at the word 'HOMOS' on it. The person read-over what he pointed at and shook his head.

"OH, GOTCHA. HOLD ON A MOMENT!"

Mordecai gleamed at the sight as the door slowly creaked open, the music now echoeing through the dark void the bird was in, and revealed a huge and muscular black man with a distinguished mustache. With a security shirt on that showed all his muscles, he held out his hand and waited. Mordecai sighed and handed the guard his I.D; leaving his invitation in his sweater pocket. The guard examined the stale I.D, noticing the changes on the blue jay from his teenage years. While the guard looked at the information on his card, Mordecai stared at the dark wall, partially lit up by the club's lights, and saw a small white board with rules to the club. Some of the rules caught his eye as he read them to himself.

**'Get Invitations for a friend by paying $229.99 at the head office.'**

_Yeesh... hefty price. What else? _

**'Any individual caught without an invitation without a valid excuse will be dealt with (as that they will be facing many charges).'**

_... oh... shit... hopefully he won't question me... right?_

Mordecai fixed his stance and applied more pressure on his left leg. The body guard gave Mordecai's I.D back and then asked for the invitation. Mordecai slipped the invitation from his sweater and slowly handed it to him. He gulped as the guard snatched it and got out a scanner from his colorful belt. After the scanner beeped from him scanning the bar code on the invitation, the black man eyed the anxouis bird and crinkled his nose. The eyes of the guard seemed to be have stabbing Mordecai's as the bird's eyebrows twitched from his uncertainty.

"Is anything wrong, sir?"

The body guard put up a smug and handed the invitation back.

"ENJOY THE CLUB BIRD!" The guard pulled the door farther out and let in the astounded and impatient bird. Mordecai crept inside and was immediately blown back at the sight of the oversized and monumental club. About more than twenty thousand beings were dancing all at once; all shapes, races, or animals dancing to the beat of their souls while getting close to each other. (And I mean _really_ close). Friction was no doubt being used here while the same sex got close to each other. Most were feeling each other in locations one could only dream about; somewhat inappropriate but at the same time… very sexy. All of them had one thing in common; they all wore rainbow bracelets to show their spirit to the club. Mordecai eyed the place and worried if he could take the gay heat that enveloped the place.

_Well… I bet I could… if Margaret never found out about it… _He smiled to himself and continued to gaze among the passionate dancers.

Some were making out in the dance groups as the hard style music continued to boom out loud with its electronic sounds; each playing a musical role that drove the people into stepping to it. Harmonies blended with the deep and steady bass, making the whole place continouisly vibrate; Mordecai's ears sort of busted as his body shook with the music. He couldn't help but stamp his feet to the ground along with the bass. It felt as if the music was calling for him. Calling him to be… free.

The purple and red lights kept shooting in and out at the crowd, showing the free shadows that sprung among the glittery walls. The floors were all made out of hard see-through plastic; which were lit up by hologram projections that were hidden underneath. They flashed all the colors of the rainbow in holy matrimony; which displayed the ground with all sorts of color patterns. The ground literally looked as if it was a river of molten colors that intertwined with one another. The sight was absolutely beautiful and marvelous since it looked as if the crowd floated among a cloud of colors. They raved on as if they had just found a pot of gold, or even more than that… themselves. The DJ at the top of the club, which only his dark figure could be seen in front of a light purple background/screen, was mixing his tunes and was throwing his hands up and down with the fast-paced beat. He yelled into the microphone random phrases as 'Party till You Drop' or 'Express Yourself, Bitches!' People cheered and waved their hands proudly in the air as he spoke. Flashes of blue and yellow lasers soared among the club and partially blinded the overwhelmed avian as he was so astonished at the sight of it all. This wasn't any other club, where most people were squished or couldn't move since it was so crowded because of the little space provided. No, this place could hold about a hundred thousand if it could. It was practically a replica of a… _stadium._

_How… how the 'H' do we have this many gay people in our community? This is freakin'… epic… hope I don't attract too much attention here though… just so no one starts asking me on how I got here…_

After he took a step forward with the beat, the music stopped abruptly and a flash of white light shined down on the startled avian; whom was stuck in mid-step. He froze there while everyone in the club stopped their dancing and motions. While staying in their original positions, they turned their faces toward the querulous and volatile avian. He broke a sweat as he felt the intensity of everyone staring at him. Everyone… The club was dead silent before another bright light shined down on the DJ; he picked up his microphone, making the awkward speaker noise that pinched the eardrums of some, before he spoke out.

"LOOK WHO WE GOT HERE! This is the fifty first thousandth being to come here tonight. YOU ALL KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?"

To Mordecai's astonishment, everyone raised their hands, their colorful bracelets showing, above their heads and chanted, "DANCE, DANCE, DANCE CONTEST! DANCE, DANCE, DANCE CONTEST!" Then people and animals (anthros) went crazy and shouted out random things that Mordecai couldn't gather all in his head.

_Wait… what? Dance Contest? But… but…_

"THAT'S RIGHT! IT'S TIME FOR THE DANCE CONTEST TO COMMENCE! TODAY'S YOUR LUCKY DAY BIRDIE!"

People cheered or booed him as Mordecai started getting pushed by the some individuals in the club; the strong male man and anthros quickly scooted him up as Mordecai tried to retaliate. But no matter how much he pleaded and pushed back, he landed on the ground and stood on the colorful and lit up stage. Rays of lasers sprouted from the edges of the stage as they lit up the club, (like the 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' show). Mordecai only took a second to notice from standing on the stage that there were a mile of podiums and levels, flight after flights of social rooms, stacked near and among each other from behind of where he use to stand at. Most of the podiums showed couples and friends hanging with each other while gazing above the dance floor; crowded with wild and fun party-goers. It seemed as if the height of the club was limitless as the top of the place only darkened; which made it impossible for the bird to see the top of the place.

His mouth gaped at the sight of it all before he slowly lowered his irises to look at the crazy croud of thousands of people and animals; some staring at him while others still dancing with one another with the background bass. Mordecai felt tense as his eyes dilated. He was having stage fright, like he did that one time when he and Rigby tried playing in a band concert at the Coffee shop (their band being called the Mordecai and the Rigbys!). But compared to the CHOM crowd, the Coffee Shop audience size who watched them play with their guitars was puny. This CHOM crowd that inhabited this place was freaking HUGE!

"EVERYONE, EVERYONE! YOU ALL READY TO SEE WHO CAN DANCE BETTER?"

Mordecai felt a hand touch his shoulder and cocked his head to the that touch. He acknowledged the DJ player with his neon green sunglasses and wearings of an unkempt white shirt and pants with holes in them. He also wore two hats that topped each other and wore three golden chains that hung on his long neck.

"Hey man, what's your name?"

"Ummm… a… ummm… a…. Blubajay." His voice went an octave up from his usual range. He immediately slapped his cheeks and cleared his throat. "I mean, *coughs* it's Mordec-"

"HEY YALL THIS IS BLUE JAY! GIVE IT UP!" The crowd boomed with applause as Mordecai ears popped. He wanted to tell the DJ his real name, but he was cut off when the DJ held his hand out in the direction to the other side of the stage.

"AND HE WILL BE FACING OFF THE ONE, THE ONLY, DANCE CHAMPION SO FAR… ALICIA ROME!" Even more applause and support came after the DJ finished as a gorgeous and tall female girl walked up to the stage and waved to her fans. With brunette, wavy hair that shimmered and camouflage pants that connected to bra straps, she blew out a kiss to everyone as Mordecai was almost swept off his feet from her beauty. She had that 'seductive' look, no doubt. She… reminded him of someone… someone he knew back then. His thoughts were dropped as the DJ nudged Mordecai forward by pushing near his tail feathers. He spoke directly behind the bird's head,

"Go get it on, hot stuff."

Mordecai 's eyes widened, feeling so uncomfortable from the DJ's motives, before he stumbled forward and stood in front of Alicia. She smacked her huge lips and held out her hand. Mordecai looked at the crazy and supportive crowd, gulped, and shook the hand in front of him. She clapped and stepped back while getting herself warmed up.

"Hey pretty boy, you look familiar. Have we met?" She had that Russian accent that was harsh but sensual.

"M-maybe… I'm not sure." Alicia smirked and stretched her legs; some girls wooing in the background.

"So, you think you can dance?" The avian shrugged and moved his arms and neck around.

"I got some moves, I guess." He lied as he flexed his legs out individually and positioned himself. He was trying to build his confidence level up, even though his 'stage fright' was making him feel like a wuss. He was very nervous.

"OK LET'S GET THIS DANCE CONTEST STARTED!" Mordecai's eyes beamed at the back of the stage and saw the DJ already flipping some disks and smacking them down. He raised his arm up before everyone in the room, even Alicia, followed along. Mordecai hesitated and then joined in. The DJ then spun the disks and the bass erupted the speakers once again. People cried out to the two as Alicia stepped on first in the middle of the stage and stood her stance in front of Mordecai.

_1…2…3…4…_

Lights flashed around her as she began stepping to the beat; slamming the ground with her high heels while skidding across the floor. It was like she was levitating above the flashing floor as the broad was doing dub-step moves. She waved her free hair that defied gravity every time her body twirled with no difficulty. Mordecai couldn't help but admit that this chick… was really good. Another girl from the crowd shouted,

"YOU GOT THIS ALICIA!"

Alicia did a fancy spin and pointed at the girl.

_5…6…7…_

They blew kisses to each other before the next eight-count started to let the bird give it a try. Mordecai stepped up as Alicia smuggled a grin across her face and cheered him on. Mordecai started to sweat as he gazed upon the anticipating crowd. Their eyes and cheerful expressions glistened with the party lights as Mordecai's long and skinny legs wobbled.

_I… i… I can't do this…_

He wanted to walk away from it all, walk out of the place, and fall back to sleep. He didn't feel as if he truly belonged there. But something deep inside was telling him to go for it; to live this moment and to conquer his deepest fears and worries… he had to at least try. He would regret leaving if he never tried at first.

So, the avian slowly bounced to the bass and kept on it for quite some time. He could see worried expressions from all over the club as they disapproved of his lame movement. He put on a fake smile and did a small turn, which still didn't impress anyone.

_Oh my God… I can't do this… this is nerve-racking… what would… what would Rigby do?_

For a moment, he imagined himself with Rigby as the raccoon kept speaking out to him.

"_**MOVE IT** MORDECAI, YOU GOT TO **SHAKE YOUR BODY!** PICK YOUR FEET UP **DUDE!** MUSCLEMAN'S MOM CAN DANCE **BETTER THAN YOU!"**_

He smiled to himself. Mordecai decided that imagining Rigby there would help get rid of his stage fright. (Even though he purposely made Rigby sound like the complainer that he usually was).

**"_TWIST MORDECAI, TWIST!"_**

He quickly twisted his body even more and his feet did a triple step. He stomped to the actual beats and started sliding across the floor like he was on ice. The crowd noticed his immediate actions and improvements; amazed on how smooth his dancing was getting. They slowly but surely rallied him to continue; they moshed at each other and huddled closer to the stage while their hands waved with rainbow bracelets. The thumping from the music blended with the whole club stomping while cheering on the nervous avian. Alicia wooed him on herself as Mordecai widen his eyes and realized that he was having… a blast. He felt as if he was partying back at the house; dancing among his friends, drinking like a fool, and trashing the place with his best friend. This feeling he earned inside his soul made him have the sudden confidence to break dance in front of the 50,999 other clubbers. His heart pumped loudly as his body twirled showing all sides of his feathered body; its blueness and white synthesized with the party lights around. The avian took his sweater off and swung it at Alicia, who gladly caught it. He couldn't help but let the music carry him; his feet swinging around as he performed different and elaborate dance moves and cartwheels. (The weird thing was that he never knew that he could do these moves before. But he figures that with his long and slender form, he should break dance more often.)

Even though his moves were way different from what everyone else was doing, he was one with the club as he danced his heart and soul to the people who he has finally felt a connection to. He felt like he had the power of music at the palm of his hands.

In the middle of his break dancing, Alicia put the sweater to the side to where the girl she kissed to earlier held on to it. Alicia then waved her hair and joined in with the uplifted blue jay. They faced each other's faces and smiled at one another. Their feet corresponded to each other as they kept dancing within a boundary of a 360 degree circle. They started to revolve each other as the lights shined brighter and lit their figures to where anyone could notice their forms. Some crowd members stared in amazement as Mordecai and Alicia's locking and popping intertwined with each other; yet neither stopped their extreme dancing. Sweat blemished from the two as Mordecai gave a cheerful expression to Alicia.

"I never felt this… THRILLED BEFORE!" Alicia laughed and slid back with her long legs. She kept spinning on her high heels before slapping hands with Mordecai; right when the song ended with an epic boom that seemed to have the ability to shatter eardrums. Dead silence followed as Mordecai and Alicia breath in and out loudly; their eyes keeping contact. It was one epic dance that will with Mordecai's memory bank for sure.

Then after, a HUMONGOUS and THUNDEROUS applaud and overwhelming support came upon the club. Immediately, Alicia giggled and acted fast; she pushed Mordecai from behind and he fell into the hands of hundreds. Mordecai could feel half-a-thousand fingers carrying him as he surfed above his new fans. They shouted over and over,

"BLUE JAY! BLUE JAY! BLUE JAY! BLUE JAY!"

Mordecai felt so… alive (and deaf). He usually felt great in his usual parties at home or anywhere else. But at this club, he couldn't help but cry for joy. He felt so… different. Mordecai couldn't think of way to describe what he feeling. Nevertheless, he was one among the thousands of people who all had a curious and different passion for love and partying. And there was nothing wrong with that… not at all.

"THE JUDGES HAVE DEBATED ABOUT THIS AND IT WAS A CLOSE CALL, BUT THE WINNER OF THE DANCE CONTEST WAS... BLUE JAY, OUR NEW CHAMPION!" The DJ flipped a disked and got himself ready for the continuous music that was bound to come. The whole color spectrum was used for the confetti as they sprung out and covered the dance floor. The crowd celebrated, danced and carried the confetti-covered Mordecai, the luckiest bird in the world.

After a few minutes of celebration, Mordecai was let down at the end of the dance floor. The bass resumed with an all new and hot beat while the pumped up avian noticed Alicia right near him. She smiled and brought the girl that cheered her on earlier; she was blonde and wore a pink shirt and blue ripped-up jeans.

"Hey Blue Jay, great job up there! You really showed me! So from your victory, you get the honor to meet my girlfriend, Grandee!" Grandee beamed at Mordecai and handed back his green sweater with his belongings in it. Mordecai beamed right back as the both of them before Grandee talked with a high pitch voice.

"YEAH, LOVE THE DANCING!"

She smiled wider and told him that she rented a table that was five stories above. They grabbed some cocktails along the way, including a pitcher for refills (which was surprising to Mordecai), and headed into a gold encrusted elevator. The doors closed as the two girls sat down on the black cushions that were provided within the elevator. While Mordecai was captivated by the design in the big elevator, Grandee whispered something and pointed behind Mordecai's back. Alicia took a second glance at him and whispered to her girlfriend. Then they both said nothing afterwards. After he pushed the fifth floor button that illuminated from his touch, Mordecai, with his cocktail in one hand and his sweater on the other, stared through the glass while he felt themselves elevate over the luminous and flashing club. The sight of thousands upon thousands of shrinking beings was marvelous before the elevator stopped and opened the exit doors. The three walked along a dim hallway, with a blue-tint color to the atmosphere, and Mordecai noticed people participating in their own conversations. The music was somewhat quieter up there and the air-conditioning blew like a hurricane to cool the beings their socializing. To the left of them was a ledge that revealed the dancing area below with some podiums and booths sticking out; as to their right were rows and rows of booths. Many of the booths were occupied by different males kissing other males and females kissing females. Mordecai looked over the edge of the main floor and marveled at the club's lights and atmosphere; they stood about five hundred feet from where he stared at below. Mordecai stopped looking over (it sort of made him woozy) before sitting down at a booth that sort of 'hung' on the edge. Mordecai could feel a plastic shielding underneath himself, the table, and seats as he couldn't help but look over again.

"Damn… this place is f'ing awesome!"

Grandee gave second glances at Mordecai before she mentioned,

"This is your first time being here?"

"Yeah, actually." The two girls looked at him, confused. Alicia butted in.

"Wait, how did you get an invitation if you're here by yourself? Are you... by yourself?" Mordecai widened his eyes as he tried to cover his tracks.

"Ummm, yeah but a friend gave me an invitation to go here. But unfortunately, he couldn't come... heh heh..."

"Where is he at then?"

"Ummm... sleeping." Mordecai held back his head and looked around. Grandee smiled and was gullible to beleive Mordecai.

"Well anyways, you are gonna love this club. It has more than dancing Mordecai. Like it has a pool, mini golf courts, resturant, small movie theatre, a..."

Alicia shutted her up with her finger and stared straight at Mordecai. She was still troubled at the idea that Mordecai had a friend that invited him into CHOM and yet his friend didn't even come along. She knew something just wasn't right. She knew Mordecai wasn't like this. He just knew him... secretly.

"Mordecai, can I see you're invitation then?"

"Ummm... sure..." Getting over from what Grandee told him about the club's extra (and unnecessary) attributes, Mordecai got his invitation out and showed Alicia. She grimaced and she glared at the blue avian.

"So you went through exit/entrance number six?"

"What? Number six? OH!... Yeah I did but... Sorry, but why does it have a specific number?"

"Well, there's more than just one. Didn't you know that?" The bird's eyes widened.

"Wh-what? I mean, really? M-my friend didn't tell me that!"

"Yeah, there are more than one entrances and exits to this place. About a hundred are spread out all over this country of ours."

Mordecai's mouth dropped and lifted his beak back up. "W-Wait, how the H does that work out?"

Before the girls spoke a word, a masculine voice from nearby responded to Mordecai's question.

"Well, my guess is that the Transglutaminase, type 2, is used for the formation of an efficient phagocyte portal in macrophages engulfing apoptotic cells. This acts as a co-receptor for integrin beta(3). When this occurs, the formations of the portals help transport our atomic structures and help render us to different locations depending on the proton levels of the destined destination." The voice came from a mid-sized human who wore very tacky clothes and had spiked blonde hair. He was very attractive, had some build, and he had that smile that could make anyone smile; even on their worst days. He continued with his hypothesis.

"As we walk in total darkness to head to this club, the hidden 'portals' allow us to end up here in a secluded place underneath some mountains far from civilization. It's like we had travel through different dimensions that allow us to move hundreds of miles from where we lived at without feeling or realizing it."

Alicia lowered her eyelids and applauded slowly. With a roll of her eyes she retorted."Very impressive, Blake. I really admire your brilliance." Blake smiled at her sarcastic attitude and laughed.

"Oh Alicia, you know you appreciate my brains." It seemed like Alicia was invincible against Blake's smile that made Mordecai unconsciously smile back at. Blake looked back at Mordecai.

"So, you're that guy that danced against Alicia, right? Blue Jay?"

Mordecai chuckled and shrugged.

"Yeah, but the DJ got my name wrong. Actually my name is-"

"You know, that DJ is such a pervert. Did you know that he likes showing random guys his mansion that he owns and then 'persuades' them to 'hang out a bit longer in his room?'

Everyone stared at Grandee as she smiled widely and drank some of her scotch. She did seem like an annoying broad, but at the same time, she looked so innocent. Alicia chuckled afterwards and smoothed her hair.

"You were saying, Mordecai?"

Mordecai got over what he just heard and thought back to what he said earlier; trying to catch his lost thoughts and putting them back together.

"Oh yeah… ummm, again, I'm Mordecai. The DJ thought I said… s-said… wait, did you…" he pointed at Alicia and started acting suspicious towards her. "Did you just say my name without me telling you?"

Alicia froze up, realizing of what she just said. She sputtered some words to cover herself. But then she eventually gave up, tilted her head and stared at Mordecai.

*sigh* "Umm... You probably don't remember me, but… you remember being at that middle school, Kristman, right? You know, before you moved and all…" She trailed off and looked down in shame. Mordecai, tapping his fingers on the table, remembered all too well: Samson, the bullying, his journal being revealed, running from all the mocking… the flashbacks haunted him for a moment before he came back to reality.

"Yeah, so... How do you know?"

"Well, you remember 'The Russian Diva'? That was me!" Mordecai's eyes brightened up from hearing this.

"Oh… weren't you…" His voice uplifted a little. "I should have guessed it from your Russian accent. You were the one of the popular cheerleaders that used to… use their stature to make other girls feel bad about themselves… Yeah, and… oh man… that one time you fought another girl in Mr. Evan's math class." He chuckled a little. "Now THAT was a cat fight…"

He stopped and looked over the edge again. He lowered his eyes and sighed. Alicia sighed as well. The other two just stared at Alicia and Mordecai before shrugging. Blake was lost in confusion. But for Grandee… well, let's just say she was lost in her own head. Blake motioned Grandee to follow him away, which she did while moving to the club's bass. After a moment passed, Mordecai swallowed some of his cocktail before he continued.

"I… never really liked that school…" He felt so depressed at that moment; he felt as if he was experiencing the last day of school once again. The laughing, the mocking, the paper-throwing… it was all too much for him to relive. Alicia put her hand on his and looked deep into his solemn eyes.

"I'm sorry for what happened to you… you didn't deserve it… If it makes you feel better, I skipped that day of school because I wanted to take my summer vacation early. I would have never made fun of you, even if I was a teenage bitch to other girls… and guys, I meant." She smiled to comfort him, and it worked. Mordecai looked up and snickered to cheer himself up.

"Nah, it's no big… that's life for ya… That reminds me, whatever happened to Samson? You remember?"

Alicia let go of his hand and made invisible circles along the table with her purple fingernails.

"Oh, that lunatic? I heard that he got arrested for some charges on smuggling drugs between some gangs and some individuals from the local white supremacy. He also did a lot of graffiti in different places of town and he got caught for them. He never returned back to school and no one knew what happened to him once he served his time in juvy. But I guess karma bit him in the ass for all I know."

Mordecai wanted to laugh; to laugh at Samson's own mistakes and mishaps. He deserved it, for what he did to Mordecai and for no apparent reason to.

But… He didn't laugh. He didn't cry.

He felt… nothing… for his ex-best friend.

"Well… I guess karma did bite him in the ass…"

He sat there for a bit before Alicia smiled brightly at him.

"You were in love him before, yes? That was what everyone believed during the break when one of the nerds from band was able to figure whose name you wrote down from your journal. Samson tried his best to hide his name in those sheets of paper before he gave them out, but I guess he couldn't hide the truth." She paused and realized Mordecai's surprised expression. "Since he never came back, our class never knew if he had feelings for you, or not. We…" she giggled a bit."We were a bad class."

Immediately Mordecai scoffed and poured himself another drink.

"Yeah, I know. I'm glad that they didn't have Nosebook back then."

He laughed out loud with Alicia and drank more of his cocktail.

"But seriously… Samson… liking me? Please… I have no interest in him anymore. My love back then doesn't even compare to what I feel now."

"Like you have for Margaret?"

Mordecai felt like someone dropped a Russian bombshell on him.

"Wait, YOU KNOW MARGARET?"

"Well, yeah. I actually live nearby her. She, I and Grandee became close friends with each other during our college years. We usually do things with her when she isn't hanging out with that mole of hers, Eileen. *phish*… So I know that you and she are finally dating one another!" She clasped her hands in applause while he went along with it; bowing like he was at some concert. Alicia snickered before she commented,

"So you're bi, right?"

Mordecai shook his head in agreement and blushed. Alicia started tapping her fingers and put on a worried expression.

"But… she doesn't know right? I mean, I never told her that I'm a lesbian too. She's… kind of against gay people. I figured that it would be best to never tell her until the right time. But you… do you want to tell her the truth?"

Mordecai tried to forget this question ever since his date yesterday night. Yet, it came back to haunt him.

"I… I don't know."

Before he could say anything else, Blake and Grandee came back with another male that came along. It was a huge and buff rhino, probably bigger than Skips (which is hard to believe). He was wearing a black tank top that said 'COME AT ME BRO.' and had light blue jeans with a belt that had a skeleton belt buckle. He grimaced a smile, protruding his clean and straight teeth, before he sat beside Blake. Blake rubbed the Rhino's arm and nudged Mordecai with his feet.

"Mordecai, meet my man, Hex." Hex eyed Mordecai while his neck muscles bulged. He was actually really good-looking for a rhino but it seemed like he didn't like meeting new beings. Mordecai nervously smiled at the huge and buff beef of gray.

"H-hi…"

Hex snarled but said nothing else. Mordecai fixed his position and faced forward to Alicia and Grandee. Grandee giggled and put her hands up.

"Look at us, having a fantastic time! YAY!" She pulled out a bag of almonds and ripped the top seal off. She noticed Mordecai's sweater and saw a small glimpse of his phone.

"Oh, Mordecai, can I see your phone? I love looking at other people's phones!" She smiled, which pushed her big cheeks up, and jumped up and down from her seat. Mordecai slid his body back at the sight of the girl.

_She… so reminds me of… Pops… yet, without the 'British' background…_

"Sure Grandee, but you can't read my messages, ok?"

"Yes, of course! How rude would that be?" Mordecai got his phone from his sweater, which sat on his lap, and handed it over. Grandee snatched it and started looking through it. Alicia raised an eyebrow toward Mordecai.

"Don't worry, she does this with everyone that she meets. She respects privacy li-"

"Hey Mordecai, you got RIGBY'S phone number! OMG, I find it funny that Margaret totally hat-"

Alicia immediately slapped Grandees' lips shut before she said the rest of her sentence. Mordecai glanced at Alicia's worried face; her brows were sort of twitching.

"What is it? What was she gonna say?"

Alicia thought quickly and sputtered,

"Nothing… just that Margaret totally a… appreciates Rigby!" Mordecai gave the 'You're lying' face and eyed her. Grandee then removed Alicia's hand from her lips and spoke out,

"Alicia, that's not true; you silly! You know that Margaret is mean to Rigby. I find it kind of funny when she complains about him." She giggled and playfully slapped Mordecai's motionless hand. Mordecai just stared at the two lesbians in disbelief.

"W-what? She…" He furrowed his brows and his voice went an octave up. "I don't believe that! You're lying, right?... She's so sweet to him. She would never make fun of my best friend. That's… so unlike her…" He looked attentively at Alicia, who nervously played with her hair. He became mad at what he was hearing.

"Alicia, is it true?"

Alicia coughed and cleared her throat. Blake put his hand out in excitement and put himself into the conversation.

"Oh, all the time, Mordecai. Grandee, didn't she say that he's a pig? Or a waste of space?"

Grandee joined in all the 'fun'.

"Yeah, or a nuance?"

"Or a joke?"

"Dipshit?"

"Douche?"

"Annoying?"

"Condescending?"

They continued to make a huge list that belittled Mordecai's best friend. Mordecai couldn't help but have a sharp and harsh voice towards Alicia.

"Alicia, is it true? Is she really making fun of my friend?"

Alicia rubbed her chin and clinched her fist.

"Ummm… I'm sorry dear… I'm afraid it's true." She eyed at Grandee, who was still making a list of insults with Blake. "But she told us never to tell anyone… Anyone, Grandee!"

Grandee stopped, looked upon her girlfriend and scoffed.

"Well, he had to find out anyway. I mean, they're in a relationship for peace sake. She should have told you how she felt for Rigby."

Mordecai twisted his beak and said nothing. He lowered his brows further and looked off to his right. He felt betrayed, like someone came and stabbed him in the back; his spine cracking and breaking down. Tears barely traced upon his face as he shifted his pupils and looked down in shame.

_How could she do this to me? Why does she hate him? How could she do this behind my back? Does… does Rigby know of this? In fact… does he fight with her too?_

He laid his hands upon his face, feathers smoothing from his palms, and sipped some more of the cocktail with his long beak. Blake's arms went around the distressed bird's shoulders as he patted him… softly.

"You okay, Blue Jay? You know what I say? I say… dump her ass and go back with Rigby!" Mordecai's eyes widened and flipped Blake off him. He then aggressively reacted.

"Hey man, R-Rigby and I have never dated. He's strictly straight, alright? He always talks about chicks and how he would like to date every pretty lady. Besides, he's dating Eileen, the mole friend of Margaret's. Anyways, he's just… my best friend…" His voice went weak and mellow suddenly from his outburst. Everyone appeared to have their heads closer in and listened to Mordecai; even Hex flicked his ears up. Mordecai looked up and realized this.

"uh… what? Guys, what is… wait… come on…you guys don't think that… all of you are like butting into my perso-"

"When did you first meet him, Mordecai?" Grandee gazed intently into the emotionally threatened avian. (Alicia knew the answer to this but said nothing. Apparently, Grandee hasn't been paying close attention to when Margaret talked about her past school experiences to the two lesbians.)

Mordecai cleared his throat before straightening things out.

"Uh.. uh…" *sigh* "well, right after moving from Kristman middle school… I transferred into his and Margaret's school and that's how I met him… but we're not dating!"

He reached over, grabbed the pitcher, and poured another cup of cocktail.

*gulp* "That time… was one of the greatest moments in my life… first meeting Rigby at that lunchroom…"

He trailed off into deep thought before Hex spoke for the first time tonight. His voice was actually all gentlemen sounding; a voice that didn't belong to the over-muscular and aggressive rhino.

"So, you have a crush on him, right?"

The bird's hand quivered as it spilled his cocktail; he bluntly looked at the rhino as if their eyes clashed. The rhino smirked and faced the bird like he just figured him out. He snorted and continued.

"Don't be ashamed. That's how these two broads met up." He pointed with his thumb at the two girls who only shrugged. Mordecai held his wings up, trying to show that they had it all wrong.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… t-that's not true… I, I…"

He struggled with his words. Usually he would violently point at the prosecutor and throw stuff if a straight douche (like Mitch) asked him that. But… he felt like he was among… friends; true (and gay) friends who only wanted him to be honest with them. Besides, they knew how he felt… well, except for Grandee (she was just clueless). Mordecai sighed and dropped his hands unto the table.

"Ok... you guys caught me. He's… um… But-" Blake stopped him in his tracks.

"Wait… this is Hilarious! Let me get this straight. So, you have a crush on your best friend, who is hated by your girlfriend and is dating that mole, and you decided to come here behind your girl's back so you could get in touch with your 'gay' side?" Before the exposed avian could respond, Alicia pointed at his face and pierced him with her eyes.

"And while we're at it, how were you invited here again? By a friend? I don't believe you one bit. Who is this 'friend' of yours if none of your 'friends' know that you have gay interests? You literally came here with no one. I mean, most people usually bring someone, at least one, with them no matter what; and they would have gone along... Really, sleeping?..." Alicia brought her head forward; her hair reflecting the party lights.

"Mordecai... tell us the truth. Where did you get you're invitation from?"

(The avian became fidgety, flustered and overwrought from the questions and wanted them to stop. Like seriously… they were like ganging up on him and metaphorically beating him up with weapons. In his head, he imagined Hex with a huge bat with nails and hits him first. Then Blake comes up with a dojo stick and hits his sides back and forth. And finally Alicia comes with a sword and gives Mordecai the final cuts and a stab through the middle. As for Grandee, well… he imagined her throwing a tomato at his face for fun.)

"CAN EVERYONE STOP ASKING ME QUESTIONS FOR A **SEC**?"

Mordecai held his wings out again and gave everyone the 'hold on a f****** second' look. He then saw Hex snarl and gave him the 'What did you say?' grimace. Mordecai lowered his arms and kept his mouth shut.

_Yeesh, I guess were all making faces tonight…_

Everyone at the booth stared at Mordecai, eager for some answers. Mordecai started to sweat from his recent shouting. He saw some other people stopping their romance in nearby booths and began eyeing over at the five of them. Mordecai wanted to walk away from them, but by the looks of Hex's stern face, he figured that it's best just to tell the truth. Besides, he might as well spill his guts out before security catches him for stealing an invitation (and literally taking the time to spill his guts out). He lowered his voice and tilted his head down; his shoulders staying up like as if he was carrying weights on his back.

"Shhh… guys, please! Just, j-just calm down. I'll... I'll tell you where I found the invitation first, alright? Just stop asking me questions."

He got the invitation out again from his sweater; the chain swung around his grasp, and explained that he found it in a homosexual book shelf at the Book'n store. He summarized, for about ten minutes, why he was there reading the books and how he felt for what the books taught him and how they changed his opinion about society. He kind of went overboard talking his feelings out of what he's been struggling with, yet his new-found friends listened; Grandee chewed loudly with her random bag of almonds during Mordecai's dialogue. During this time though, he was drinking more cocktail drinks than usual. From this, he wasn't really feeling like himself as he carried the conversation on.

"…it's just that, I want to be me. But I know most people are not going to like me… for me. It just sucks dudes… and dudets." He drank his fifth glass and hiccupped a little. "How do y-you guys deal with it? You know, do you guys lose friends?"

Blake smiled and patted the bird's back again, noticing how much the bird drank. "Yeah, we lose some friends…"

"…but we gain more friends too… and we feel more appreciative of who we are." Grandee crunched another almond and shook her bag in front of the jay. Mordecai shoved his hand up and shook it away. He died down his voice again; the bass still booming in the background.

"You guys have… balls to be yourselves. I bet you guys aren't afraid of anything when you go against what most people believe. That's… that's wicked." The Russian chick cocked her head.

"But some of us are somewhat afraid still, remember? Margaret for example? She's been so good to me and Grandee as a friend. I don't want to lose that friendship with her."

Alicia shrugged and the bird slowly shook in agreement; his head heading back while he gulped some more.

"That's… that's understandable. I don't know if... I want to break up with her so soon... just from her fighting with Rigby." He looked to the side. "I'm… still surprised by that…" He stared back at Alicia. "S-should I talk to her about it? I really don't like the idea of her making fun of my… Rigby?" He blushed to himself from saying that, yet he straightened himself out quickly. Alicia tapped her nails and thought for a moment.

"Ummm… I suggest that you should wait on talking to her about that... or to Rigby. It seems that you're struggling with being with Margaret while, apparently, discovering your sexuality and… Rigby. Look here, its best not to cause any extra drama. If you ask her about the fighting, first of all, Margaret would get pissed and want to know who asked you… which she'll become very suspicious of me and Grandee. Second, if Margaret and Rigby know that you know that they fight with each other, then they are going to continue and show their true colors to each other. And you would have to choose to be with her or him. I think this because I bet that Rigby fights with her as well… and yet he doesn't tell you about their… affiliation…"

Mordecai blinked a couple of times and zoned out for a moment.

_Well... this sucks… I __really__ don't like waiting patiently to get answers… and I don't know if I_ _want to be with her if she talks about my friend behind my back… but,it's probably best to just wait... for now..._

With a disappointed grimace, Mordecai sighed and spoke nothing for awhile. His eyes closed and calmly said,

"… You have a point there. I guess it's best to wait."

Alicia looked deeply into the honest and emotional bird. She was wanting to ask about him and Rigby having a possible… relationship (including everyone else at the table), but she felt as if Mordecai had talked too much for the night. Besides, he's really missing all the fun.

"Well, I think that we found out more than enough about Mordecai for tonight! We should let him get know about more about us in this group!" She smiled sweetly and Mordecai, who shrugged and tugged his beak up. He then caught on to what she just said.

"Wait, am I in your group?" Hex stretched his muscle-endowed arm and dropped a rainbow wristband in front of him.

"It's yours. Besides, it can't fit on my wrist; nor can it even go through my hands."

"Yeah, you can hang with us as long as no one knows that you stole an invitation." Grandee hushed herself quickly but smiled from ear to ear.

Mordecai watched as all of them stuck their hands out and pounded over each other. After putting the wristband on, Mordecai joined in and all their hands rose up in unison. They laughed out loud until Blake held his drink up.

"A TOAST… TO BLUE JAY!" They all clashed their glasses together and drank until their heart's content. Mordecai then asked questions to each of his friends; drinking and socializing their cares from society away.

Apparently, since the club holds people from all over the country, Blake and Hex are from Michigan and live right near Lake Superior. They are just 'dating' but they live together in their own condo. Alicia and Grandee live separately in their own apartments but usually meet up with each other six nights a week. They both work at restaurants as waitresses and they get big tips from those men who find them 'very' attractive. They never told their secret love for each other to anyone until they feel it's the 'right' time to.

From all the socializing and talking about how much the club had to offer, Mordecai really felt like he was part of the group of friends. It's amazing how his luck turned out in a club this crazy and different.

* * *

><p>After an hour and a half of drinking and socializing, Mordecai laughed an octave higher than his usual tone as he was as drunk as he could be; he unfortunately couldn't see or think straight. But he could feel the bass still calling for him.<p>

"Y-you guys wanna go and dance d-downstairs? I feel like DANCING like crazy!" Mordecai danced in his seat while his body swayed around like he was… well, like he was drunk. He did have about twelve glasses of cocktails (and for a skinny bird, he had a strong stomach). Blake put his hand on Mordecai's left shoulder, which Mordecai and Hex didn't mind, and massaged it.

"Hey birdie, I think you need to take it easy dude. In fact…" he eyed the others and smiled with his teeth bearing. "Let's hear what makes you feel so attracted to Rigby; because by the sound of it, he sounds like a pretty cool guy." Blake leaned back on Hex's hot body as Mordecai forced himself not to pour another drink of cocktail. When she saw Blake's intentions, Alicia wanted to protest to give Mordecai some 'privacy'. But before she could comment, Mordecai smiled brightly, his eyes kind of out of focus, and insisted on telling them. They're friends, right?

"You know… I h-haven't put that much t-thought into it, but…" *hiccup* "he's charming, and cute, and handsome, and for a small dude, he's got t-the looks dude, the looks… and I love his attitude… s-sometimes. He gets so ticked off at the little things in life. Oh, h-him and I work at a park all the time; he makes everyday complicated and yet fun... And, and... we practically live there at the central house. We share the same room, but I sleep on a bed and Rigby sleeps on a trampoline. A-and we play video games all the time, and I mean all the time." He stopped and stared at his glass. "Oh and he has the softest fur that I have ever touched… like it's unbelievable."

"Auhhhh… Mordecai and Rigby sitting in the tree, K.I.S.S.I.N.G." Blake laughed and playfully hit on Mordecai's arm. Mordecai felt like he just experienced déjà vu from when Rigby made the same joke two days ago at the bathrooms. He laughed and playfully hit Blake back.

"Yeah, like that's ever gonna happen."

"Well, it could! Maybe… maybe he has feelings for you too!"

"That's crazy talk dude."

Grandee points to Mordecai while chewing on some almonds.

"M-hey, ch-rue love ch-an happ-han."

Even though her cheeks were full of almonds, it seemed like she said something that touched the drunken bird a little. He twisted his left side of his beak up at what she said.

"Yeah Grandee… maybe you're right."

Blake did a raspberry expression and looked over Mordecai's body at the dancing crowd below.

"Well, what needs to happen right now is some dancin'. Come on Hex." Blake scooted out with Hex and both of them walked together holding arms. Mordecai smiled at the couple at their departure. It wasn't common when an animal dated a human; and the fact that both of them were men, it just made the relationship rarer. Grandee crumpled her empty bag and sat it on the table.

"I'm going to go dancing too! Alicia, Mordecai, you comin'?"

Alicia looked at Mordecai in curiosity. Evidently, the drunken avian gave a thumbs up (sort of) and both got away from the booth. It seemed like his sober feeling was going away. While walking across the balcony behind the shaking-her-hips Grandee, Alicia whispered into Mordecai's ear hole.

"We need to talk later. Privately, ok?"

Mordecai lowered a brow before giving her the thumbs up.

_Weird… what would she want to talk about?_

The doors closed again as the elevator dropped to the main level. Immediately when it opened, Grandee jumped out of it and danced her way to the crowd. Mordecai and Alicia took their time as they walked up to the sidelines; watching the beings dance and raising their hands. The DJ continued to blare his 'party' words into his microphone while the bass boomed loudly. Mordecai went over and put his sweater in the 'storage' area as he looked back at the club in whole. The music, the crowd, the partying… all of it just crying out to Mordecai as he became thrilled and excited. While his sobriety still diminishing, Mordecai's thinking was slowly clearing up and his true emotions kicked in. His body heated up as Alicia grabbed his arm and tugged him into the crowd.

She stopped him in the middle of it and playfully started rubbing against, or grinding, another girl. Mordecai held his other arm to the side and squished his body to himself while standing within the crowd. Arms, hands, legs, feet, butts, hair, tails… all being thrown around from the dancing and shaking of bodies. Mordecai loved to dance with random people in parties, but he felt so unsure of himself being in there. He's never actually danced with gay people who really 'got down'; it's never happened to him before. That unsure felling got to him as he stood completely still while observing the party-goers all around him. The music was blaring when he heard a voice that crept up behind him.

"HEY, YOU'RE THAT BLUE JAY, RIGHT?" A male tiger, strong and built like most males there, moved his body while shoving the bird. Mordecai blushed for a nano-second at the looks of the dude and scratched his head.

_Gosh, I need to work out more..._

"Uh… YEAH I AM. I…"

"COME ON DUDE, DON'T BE NERVOUS. DANCE WITH US. YOU DID IT ON STAGE! WHY NOT HERE?"

_Why not here?..._

"ACTUALLY, I DON'T FEEL SO WELL. BUT MAYBE NEXT TIME! THANKS FOR THE OFF-"

The tiger nudged him with his butt and a swing from his tail.

"PLEASE DON'T GO! YOU'RE NEW TO THIS, RIGHT? J-JUST TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS!"

Mordecai put on a somewhat confident smug and moved his hips like everyone else was. The deep bass then filled his body up with dancing fever as he really got into it. It was all so weird and different for him being so 'close' to other males, and some females, but he felt so right having this sort of fun. Sound waves vibrated throughout the club as the bi-curious avian break-dance his heart out; sweat dripping from his feathers and feet gliding among the flashing ground. He kept swiveling his hips forward and swinging his arms all around. People took notice of this and shouted,

"GAY JAY, GAY JAY, GAY JAY…" as they cheered the wild and free avian on. All kinds of wild-goers partied near him as Mordecai felt the friction and the heat rising in the place. He felt as if he could take the whole world on; nothing was gonna stop his groove. He felt as if no one else that went against his interests mattered, including those who would judge any gay person as 'weird'. He didn't care what they thought at the moment; he was being himself. He felt so lively as more and more wild beings got closer and closer to him. He pulled his head up and shouted,

**"EVERYONE! YELL 'OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!'"**

**"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!"**

He partied along with his friends and random yet inviting strangers for a couple of long and joyful hours. He wished that it would have never ended. At that moment he was satisfied with himself; of who he is and not what most people thought of him. He knew one thing for sure though.

_I am soooo going back here again… this is…_

…

…

…

* * *

><p><em>Morde… <em>

_Mordecai…_

Mordecai… You awake?

Hand over his head, the avian lazily opened his eyes and pinched his brows. Grandee, Alicia, Blake, and Hex all stood and sat near Mordecai.

"Wha… *yawn*… what happened?"

With Alicia's assistance, Mordecai was able to get up from the cushion of the booth and stretch his arms out. They were at the main floor where the music has died down and most people were gone. Janitors were cleaning up the litter and confetti messes as the DJ was picking his disks up. Mordecai felt so woozy as the objects in front of him looked all… fizzy. Blake poked the bird and laughed.

"Dude, you were like the craziest and wildest dancer out there! Man, you are the dirtiest bird in that crowd! Like... you were going all for it! We partied for like… hours before you fell over from exhaustion." He chuckled to himself before continuing. "You, my friend, were practically the best dancer. You remind me of the time when Hex got so wild that he-"

Hex bumped the human before he spoke.

"Blake, let's not talk about that, ok?"

"Hey, you have to admit it was funny when you hit that douche that-"

"Hey Blake? Just stop."

Blake gave a smug and shrugged. Hex put his arms up and stared back at the dazed avian. The tired bird felt that he was missing his watch from his blue and limpy wing (maybe from dancing too hard or some theif snatched it from him). Mordecai reached out and felt his sweater on the table and grabbed it.

"I would look myself, but everything is so… blurry. I think I…" he felt all the pockets before giving up. " yep, lost my watch…" *sigh* "Can one of you tell me what time it is?"

Grandee pulled out her phone and read out loud.

"WEEEEEeeeeeell… It is 6:07 a.m/central time, but for every other time zone, I can't keep track of those. Good thing I don't have to work till twelve today!"

*Dishes clash upon a hard ground and shatter into pieces inside of Mordecai's mind*

"WAIT, WHAT?"

"I said, I don't have to work ti-"

"NO NOT THAT! I... I GOTTA- I HAVE TO LEAVE, NOW!"

Mordecai immediately regained focus as he busted from his seat and jolted to the exit sign across from the club while carrying his green sweater and stuff. With his red shot eyes, he looked back to seeing his friends waving bye to him while he ran. Alicia shouted out,

"WE'LL SEE YOU LATER, RIGHT? NEXT WEEK ON WEDNESDAY?"

Mordecai waved his hands to them. Then with a thud, Mordecai accidently smacked to the backside of another being. His beak felt out of place when he fell down and landed on his bum. When Mordecai looked up (while trying to fix his beak), it was the same tiger that he met earlier. The tiger smiled a toothy grin while he flexed his body.

"Hey Blue Jay! Watch yourself now. You're gonna hurt yourself from not looking where you're going, ok?" The tiger crook his head, flicked his furry tail and faced forward to the exit. Mordecai laughed nervously; the look of the tiger's build was still mesmerizing. He then looked over the tiger to see that there was a line of about ten beings waiting to be transported back, through the right portal, to where they live at.

So, minutes passed, which felt like hours, as Mordecai waited… and waited… counting the seconds… looking at his phone… the time slipping by… thinking of where he lost his watch at… again, the avian zoned at his phone closely until…

"HEY YOU, are you leaving or what?"

Mordecai gazed up from his phone and realized the empty space between the bodyguard and himself. He walked up hastily and responded.

"So Blue Jay, what portal number did you enter from?"

"Ummm… Number six please."

"Alright, number six it is." The bodyguard then type on his portal pad; which was hooked up to a control box near the exit doorway. Suddenly, a portal appeared and showed a vague image of a book store far away.

"Ok, you can walk through now. Thanks for coming to CHOM."

Before he walked out, Mordecai stopped and looked at the guard.

"Wait, just a curious question, why do they call this place CHOM?"

The guard eyed him and rolled his head.

"Uh, I don't know why, no one really knows. So why you askin' me? Gosh..." The guard scratched his head and glanced back at the bird. "You know what, I don't know who thought of the name, but hey, I could have thought of something way better than 'CHOM'."

Mordecai raised a brow.

"Like what?"

"Like… well... 'Purple Parrot!'... Or… something…"

An awkward silence came between the two before the body guard rubbed his stash.

"…ummm, I'll think of something better, alright? yeesh. I'm not a freaking miracle worker."

Mordecai looked at him strangely before walking through the doorway. In an instant, his anatomical structure was forced through the portal and he landed on concrete ground in milliseconds. The cool and ruff ground felt so uncomfortable as the bird slowly got up and looked at the area. It was the same alley way that he entered into last night. He glanced over and saw the dumpster closed and put against the brick wall. The portal that he had gone through has already disappeared behind him.

Trying to ignore his ears from buzzing (since the club's music was so boisterous), he stretched his back and looked at his phone.

_6:38 a.m._

"Good, I can make it back if I jog fast enough!" He held on to his sweater, that held everything he had in it, and he began jogging with his skinny legs. He turned around the corner of the alley way and ran down the streets. The sun was barely coming over the horizon as it started to light up Mordecai's surroundings. Some stores were slowly opening for business and more and more cars kept bustling through the road.

It didn't take long until Mordecai made it to the park's entrance and stepped on the green yawns that they mow every once in awhile. While running, the avian began thinking of what he was going to do today: breakfast, assigned chores, getting ready, mini-golf, and hopefully going out to eat at a steak house or something close. He smiled at the thought of seeing Rigby, Eileen, and Margaret again. But the new-found information that he was told from his gay friends still haunted him in his self-cautious mind.

Was it all true? Is Margaret really hiding something behind his back? Is Rigby hiding something from him about Margaret that he should know about? After thinking back to what Alicia told him, he decided to let time go on until he finds out more of the situation. But he was sure that he was going to keep a watching eye at all times. He was determined to see what was going on by his own eyes.

* * *

><p><em>6:55 a.m.<em>

Mordecai stopped himself and stared at the house before him. He slowly walked his way up, got the key from the top ridges of the farthest left window, and unlocked the door. The door creaked as the avian opened it and closed it softly while holding the knob. With a shut and a lock, Mordecai twisted his body around and tip-toed up the stairs. He slowly opened the door to his bedroom and put his sweater and items in one of his drools. Rigby was still snuggled underneath his clothes; snoozing and flicking his ear every now and then. Mordecai smiled at the sight; his friend sleeping while the sunrise's light outlined the form of the raccoon. He… was lost in his feelings again. That feeling of wanting to comfort his friend; to be able to feel his fur again. He knew that Rigby was creeping up in his head.

Mordecai went and lied in his bed; staring at the clothes-covered ground. The vague lines on the cieling slowly shaped into the girl of his dreams. She was smiling at him down below before he imagined her giggling at him. His body stiffened as he pulled his covers closer to his face. He began to worry… Were his feelings... his desires... getting the best of him? His thoughts became rambunctious and confusing as he couldn't really think straight from his lack of sleep.

_I have the dream girl that I've always wanted! Her beauty is ever surpassing. But since I have her…is she really the one? Is she making fun of my best friend?… Why does she hate gay people so much… gosh, I can't tell her that I'm bi… I... I can't be completely honest with her… it's like… it's like… I…I can't be myself with her… s… she would't want to know the truth... would she?_

He lifted his head for a second to see the raccoon breathing so gently. His eyes became huge and dilated as he slumped his head unto his cool pillow. It was a soft pillow that allowed his head to sink into it's body of cotton. Mordecai only stared within the pillow as he thought of Rigby; a true, loyal, and honest friend of his. The one companion that he could completely trust. Someone he could talk to and laugh with. Flashes of him and Rigby popped into his mind while memories of Margaret and him interfered. The flashbacks and memories of him hanging with the two in his lifetime felt as if they were.. fighting... going head to head while one clashed upon the other. Mordecai couldn't help but to come up with a sudden conclusion, or fact, that he couldn't ignore anymore.

_I now feel for… another…_

Tears of confusion swept down from his red eyes as he now felt as if, for the first time, his feelings for… Rigby… were the same as for… Margaret.

If not…

stronger…

If only that he knew that Rigby felt the same way. But… only time could tell… him waiting was the best thing to do, right? Mordecai pounded his head while he pulled his toes inward underneath the covers.

_Rigby's straight! He can't love me… he'll just hate me instead… I have to stop feeling this way for him... it's... it's just not fair..._

He knew that if he told Rigby his feelings that all hell was going to break use. The sleep-deprived bird kept stressing that he liked Margaret more than Rigby, hoping to save his friendship.

**_No! Margaret! Margaret! Margaret!_**

He squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth. His sweating exacerbated while his thoughts focused mainly of Margaret's flawless personality, smile, and grace.

_**I love her more. I love her more. I love her more. I love** hi-, I-**I mean**, **her, her more…**_

His mindful tone of voice in his disposition died down as his body started to tread off into the state of retirement from his long day.

_…_her…her… her… him… her… her...__

…_her…her… her… her… her… her… him…hi-_

Mordecai soon dozed off, his eyes now dry with his sweat now evaporated. While wrapped underneath his covers, his thoughts stuck and scrambled back and forth between Margaret, and his best friend (and crush). His final thought wallowed in his mind before he could think of an answer…

_..._

_..._

_Will… will she love the 'true' me… or…_

_..._

_will he?_

* * *

><p><strong>So... I did a lot of studying and thinking for this chapter. I had to look up what gay clubs are like and then exaggerate the idea to make this seem interesting and bizarre (like the show of course)! Oh, and I do plan on going to one if I can :) But anyways, who knows what will happen now (well, except for me.) To tell the truth, this was the most stressful chapter to write due to the fact that I struggle with dialogue. Like, it's my weaknest in writing this. So do expect a delay since I'm now done with school yet I have to deal with working with my dad. Who knows, it could be better for me working there (instead of looking at the walls colored in blue and white with a lame sunshine logo which represents Walmart). But seriously I want to write the story to the best of my ability and not rush it (which I hate doing). <strong>

**Also, I've been reading many stories in my free time (or when times I can't write on this story because I don't want my family to know I write this or if I'm busy). One story called 'Out of Time' by Reinkakou is... freaking AWESOME! I seriously love it and it's what partially inspired me to write this story (not to copy his ideas though). So please if you get the chance, read it! :D**

**OH, also, look up one of my favorite songs (with no words) 'Flaming June' by BT. (the video is wierd though... but I LOVE the music) It's probably one of the best I've heard of trance (and I imagine it playing at some club too!) But if you know any good trance, hardstyle, or techno/dance songs let me know if you want to! I would love to be inspired by your music choice! :D**

**If you feel like you are enjoying this story or you wanna state your opinion or helpful facts to me, please RATE and REVIEW/COMMENT! I LOVE to read what you guys have to say! :)**

**Regular Show characters and idea of show belongs to J.G Quintel and Cartoonetwork. **


	8. Chapter 8 : Closer Than You Think

… _sumo… fist pump…m-monster trucks… z-zombies… Mordecai… hmmm…_

His small fingers clenched some of the wrinkled shirts as he sheepishly pulled his 'covers' upon his restful self; his body weight making the rusty trampoline creak from his redundant twists and turns. In the environment of the silent room, with the sleeping raccoon and avian, was a small fly, buzzing with it's clear wings. The black dot flew around within the dim sunlight, that streamed throughout the room, until it stumped on Rigby's nose with it's filthy feet. The wondrous insect began rotating itself among the black oval-shaped orb because of its explicit (and annoying) curiosity; its stepping was making the raccoon's nose irritated. His mouth, chap and dry as autumn leaves, inhaled some stale air as the raccoon unconsciously started flapping his right hand near his nose to stop whatever that was disturbing his slumber. But unfortunately, all of his swift swings and scratches were barely missing the nasty fly as it dodged all of Rigby's enervated attempts. The raccoon couldn't help but crinkle his nose and sneeze from all the irritation. The sneezing caused the fly to fly far away from the raccoon's own consciousness.

With a little sniff, Rigby gently opened his eye lids while rubbing the crevices of his eye folds; his eyes viewing the calm morning that sprung within his sight. The roused raccoon chapped his mouth and moved his head into the direction of his best friend's bed. It looked as if the avian's form underneath his blue covers was completely still and apathetic. No snoozing, no twitching, just compete stillness was the only word that Rigby could describe Mordecai.

Rigby solemnly smiled and glanced at the digital clock across the room. The black box with its green neon lines glowed the numbers: _8:39._

The raccoon's eyes shot wide open as he scurried across the floor and attempted to wake up Mordecai. They were supposed to get up and see Benson downstairs at like… an hour and thirty-nine minutes ago!

"MORDECAI, GET UP! WE SLEPT IN TOO LATE!"

The tired and cranky avian moaned and rolled around under his covers, burying his head. He crooked his beak to the side and clenched his teeth. He really didn't want to get up this morning, since his last night/morning partying made him only have about two hours of sleep. Mordecai didn't move as he desperately tried to slumber just for a little bit more. Rigby, due to his height, could only see Mordecai's bum and feathers partially covered beneath the covers of the wooden bed. Rigby rolled his eyes but marveled at the sight of the avian before immediately shaking his head like crazy.

_Stop looking at his build DUDE! FOCUS! Benson is going to scream at you and Mordecai if you don't get him up yourself!_

"Mordecai! Come on…" He poked his back side, feeling the heat of the being before he pushed his hands back and waited for a response.

Rigby, though, only watched as Mordecai reacted to his calling like it was some alarm clock; he slumped more over and laid on the edge of the bed with his butt sticking out a little. It seemed like he wasn't caring what he was doing with his body's position; he just wanted his slumber to continue. Rigby couldn't help but blush at the sight of the snoozing avian. Even when Mordecai made a huge, and rare, snore in his pillow, Rigby only smiled at the dreamy bird. Immediately, the dazed raccoon's reflex of his hand slapped his stagnant face to bring himself out of his mesmerized state.

_Okay, enough staring, FOCUS! I HAVE TO GE- Wait… why did I care when we get up or what Benson thinks? Hmmm… weird._

Rigby shrugged to himself and continued to poke at Mordecai's arm that hung out. Usually their boss, Benson, would wake them up at the right time, but coincidently he didn't show up this morning. It was even unusual to where Rigby had to get someone up; it's just not that common.

_Weird…again._

The impatient raccoon groaned as he got closer to the body, hesitating for a second, before shouting for the second time.

"COME ON MORDI! GET YOUR SEx-, uh, Your ASS UP!" Rigby slapped his head like a bowling ball hitting a pin while he gritted his teeth; saying the word 'idiot' over and over again. But Mordecai stopped Rigby's train of thought as the avian pushed his body up and turn his feathery body over to face the raccoon. He yawned out loud, pushing his beak's crevices all almost perfectly vertical of each other, and rubbed his eyes for any 'sleep' dust. Rigby stiffened his body when he noticed that his form was only a couple of inches away.

"Uh…uh- Morning Mordecai! Guess who's uh… waking you up? Hehehe…" He realized how weird his greeting was before continuing. "Sorry for yelling at you, it's just that we ar-" Suddenly, the bird gave another yawn and stretched his long and cranky body; some pops could be heard from his form's stretch.

"uuuuuhhhh… *sigh* we woke up late, right?" The exhausted avian revealed his vague red eyes as he chapped his beak, flopping his tongue. Rigby could sort of smell his best friend's morning scent as he gave some room for the bird. It was refreshing to the raccoon; even though it was Mordecai's morning smell; which was supposed to smell bad.

"Weeeellll, yeah. But dude, do you think it's weird that Benson hasn't even yelled for us yet?"

Mordecai slowly got up on his knees and balanced his body upon his bed. He stretched his arms and back and released some air after he settled down.

"Yeah… it's weird. Actually, *yawn*, it's especially weird that you woke me up."

Mordecai attempted to stay awake as he pushed his covers off from himself and spread his legs over the edge. Rigby shook his head at the realization that his friend was obviously sleepy just by looking at him.

"Guess I'm not the tired one now, hey Mordecai?" He shoved his elbow near Mordecai, his elbow only going through the space between them and hit the avian's side slightly; he then went over to his trampoline to fix it up for later. Mordecai could only stare at the blank wall in front of him as his head felt like a weight waiting to pull him back into his bed. He was SO tired. But he knew that being at CHOM was worth it, and he would rather be tired than not be tired at all. He didn't remember every detail that he saw or did, but he remembered the feeling of being there and experiencing it all.

It was worth it.

Mordecai glanced at his best friend at the trampoline and slowly smiled at his friend 'fixing' his 'bed' by throwing the clothes all on top of it. _That's the Rigby way…_ He watched as Rigby put his fists to his hips and shook his head like he accomplished something epic. Mordecai could only stare at the raccoon's backside as he saw Rigby's fur glimmer from the sunlight; resonating to show all the individual hairs that covered Rigby.

"Hey Mordecai, do you think that Benson is possibly letting us sleep-in for today? I just find it uncommon that he wouldn't wake us up early." Rigby turned his body and stared at Mordecai with his wide and appealing eyes. In Mordecai's perspective, they looked like they were dilated with a small glamour of radiance that danced across the raccoon's eyes. They were so… pulchritudinous.

(They were so beautiful that another descriptive word was put in place of 'beautiful' to describe how amazing they were.)

Mordecai stuttered from the sight before regaining cautiousness.

"Um… yeah I wish he would. But that's like as if Muscleman decides to lose weight. It will never happen!" They both laughed out loud with their eye lids closed. Rigby fell down on the floor and shook with laughter while Mordecai got his body up and walked to the door. The cheerful bird slammed the door with his wing and laid his head on the wood as he continued with his laughter. To the two friends who deal with a douche like Mitch, the joke was so hilarious and hysterical!

Among their laughter, Mordecai opened his eye, cleared his joyful tears, and stared at his wing that lay on the door. His mouth immediately closed as he realized that his wing had the same rainbow bracelet from his friend, Hex, still snagged around his wrist. He immediately looked at his best friend, who was laughing with his eyes shut, and took his bracelet off and tossed it towards the bottom of the bed. Mordecai took back his arm from tossing the bracelet and realized that the rubber of the bracelet had stopped it's own movement to go completely under the bed; it landing just only a couple of inches near the bed. So, Mordecai quickly scooted his body closer to the bed and used his foot to push it towards the bed. But during Mordecai's attempt to hide the bracelet, Rigby noticed Mordecai's laughter had died, looked up after clearing his eyes and saw Mordecai's awkward pose near the bed; it looked as if Mordecai was about to stick his leg underneath the bed.

"Ummm… Mordecai? What are you doing?" Mordecai froze in place, thought quickly and snatched the bracelet with his toes of his foot.

"Nothing Rigby, honest! Just stretching since I'm so tired and all." The fidgety avian pretended to stretch his legs and secretly held on to the bracelet with his toes. Rigby smudged a grimace and headed towards Mordecai's direction. The avian hesitated and changed his stretching position to hide his foot bearing the bracelet. Rigby stood next to the bed and Mordecai before peering under the bed. Mordecai immediately took this opportunity and grabbed his colorful bracelet from his foot and held it behind himself. Rigby twitched his head and raised a brow as Mordecai straightened up with his arms behind his back.

"Mordecai, you're not hiding anything from me, right?"

"Nope, whoo, just got done with my leg… workout."

Rigby grunts and puts his arms in front of him.

"Alright then, let me see your hands?" Mordecai smiled with his eyes gleaming as he showed his hands not holding any object.

"See, not hiding anything! Well, we better go downstairs and see Benson. Come on dude, let's go!" The tall avian scooted the befuddled raccoon towards the door. Rigby peered at the ground near Mordecai before shoving the wings off and walked out of the room. Mordecai sighed in relief as he quickly reached behind him and saw that he had perfectly dropped the bracelet through one of his rear feathers that held it near to him.

_Thank god for these, whoo!_

The sly avian then grabbed it and pushed it underneath his puffy mattress.

"Hey MORDECAI, you coming or what?"

"Hold on!" The bird fixed the mattress upon the bracelet, made sure it wasn't in sight, and sprinted out of the room; swinging the door behind him.

* * *

><p>The two scurried down the stairs as they always did and saw no one in the living room. The house was dead quite except for the faint sound of something crunching and glass noises coming from the kitchen. The two slowly took their time and walked into the kitchen, where only Pops and Skips were at eating their cereal. But there was no sign of Benson.<p>

"Morning guys."

Pops waved with a mouth full of food. "Morning Mordecai! Morning Rigby! Do you guys still have those mugs right?"

Rigby nodded his head while Mordecai shook his head, while he thought to himself.

_I still need to get that today from Book'n…_

Pops giggled and drank some of his coffee. "Well, we can all drink coffee right now!" He brings up his coffee and shows off the 'Union Jack' symbol on the side of his mug. "And we can watch the Olympics at London this year!" He giggled and drank some more of his creamer-filled coffee. Rigby looked up at Mordecai as the bird stared right back. They both remembered that they left their cups at the Book'n store. They wanted to face-palm themselves but they quickly looked back at Pops, smiling with his cheeks spreading, and Mordecai held up his hands. They didn't want to upset Pops this morning; he looks like such in a good mood.

_When isn't he…_

"Hey Pops, can we do that later. I'm *yawn* not in the mood for coffee."

Rigby stretched his back and pointed at Pops and spun his finger. "Yeah, we'll get around to that… sometime…" They both smiled, baring their teeth. Pops shrugged and poured some more coffee; the steam filling up any unoccupied room nears the British mug. Skips grimaced at what they said and slurped some of his own coffee.

_Mordecai not in the mood for coffee… hmm… he's hiding something, that's for sure…_

Mordecai and Rigby scampered to their chairs and sat near the other two. Mordecai looked around and still couldn't find any sign of their gumball boss.

"Hey Skips, do you know where Benson is?"

Skips took notice of Mordecai's questioning and lowered his spoon; Pops added two lumps of sugar into his glass while Rigby went to the fridge to get some milk.

"Well, Benson called in sick today. He said that he wasn't really feeling like himself and that he needed a day off. So… he left me in charge for today, along with Pops. But he didn't say much on what chores that needed to be done." He eyed Mordecai for a second before staring back at his cereal. "I guessed that you guys needed the rest, by the looks of it, so I gave you guys extra time to sleep." Skips then chewed another spoonful of Waffle-Crisp and gulped more than half of his coffee. Mordecai, without realizing Skip's motive just now, and Rigby (coming back with the milk whilst raising his brows to the fullest extent) gazed at each other in total awe. They were both thinking the same thing. They both turned back at Skips, with the anxious raccoon slamming the milk gallon on the table. Mordecai hollered in deep sympathy,

"Skips, Pops, can we have the day off?" Rigby cut his way into the conversation.

"YEAH, we've been working our butts off for the past days! Please Skips, you wise ol' strongman! And you POPS, my jolly old British friend!" Mordecai, with slanted eyes, glanced at Rigby's cheesy pleading skills and shook his head in shame. Skips and Pops both grinned at each other before the 'strongman' responded.

"Well, I can't give you guys the day off, but I may be able to only let you guys do one simple job. Then you guys can do whatever for today."

Mordecai and Rigby felt like jumping for joy and swinging their arms around in celebration. But at the same time they weren't happy at the fact that when someone says that a chore is 'simple' in this job of theirs, then it typically meant that it was hard. Rigby grunted and crossed his arms over each other.

"So, *sigh* what's the chore then?"

* * *

><p>"OH MY GOD! How LONG does it take to PUUUULLLL *grunts* ALL of these WEEDS?"<p>

Rigby threw the weed to the side of himself and grabbed another weed; it's roots deeply buried within the dry dirt. Mordecai was on the other side of the park's garden length; pulling weeds as well.

"Gosh, I hate pulling these weeds dude."

The two groaned in unison while the morning sun's heat continued beating on the two. They knew that this job was really no big deal (as you can tell). But it was the fact that every time that they work on the garden, like this activity, that they always had to work with the blobby-piggish zombie and his ghostly companion under a blood-thirsty sun.

"You know who else, *grunts*, hates pulling weeds?"

Mordecai and Rigby, both sweating with their brows down, both stared at Muscleman. With no shirt on and smelling like a wet dog, Muscleman cleared his throat, stood from where he sat at, and yelled to the world.

"MY MOM!" Muscleman did a victory chant, which only made Mordecai and Rigby groan even more, and started slapping his jelly rolls. Fives just said nothing and continued to pull weeds. But the irritated raccoon was not in the mood to deal with Muscleman's stupid antics.

"HEY, STOP PLAYING AROUND MUSCLEMAN!"

The fat blob glared at Rigby and snarled grossly.

"Shut up Rigby. I don't need you to tell me what to do. I am my own man." Muscleman's body twisted around as he went to grab some water bottles from the cooler that Mordecai had brought out earlier. Muscleman looked back and waved his hand to Fives.

"Hey Fives, help me out for a second." Fives did as he was told to as the dirt-covered avian and raccoon tried to ignore their arrogant partner, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. A few seconds passed before Rigby looked at the hard-working avian. Sweat continued to profuse from the top of his head as Rigby wiped himself off with his arm. But his sights were stuck on Mordecai's frame; it's slender and quick motion as well as a mixture of hard-work and confidence. Rigby marveled on how Mordecai moved his body under the hot sun; his feathers drenched in sweat and covered with dirt. Time seemed to slow down when Mordecai took a quick break after pulling a hand-full of weeds and began stretching his feathered body. His hands reached up and entangled, Mordecai showed off his front body; his pecs stretched from his arms while his abdominal muscles extracted to stretch his spines and expand his rib cage. Rigby couldn't help but imagine himself walking over there to the sexy bird with pink lemonade and offer it to him. But Mordecai, with his gentle and laminating eyes of his, would stare deeply into the abashed raccoon's eyes and say,

"The only thing I thirst for is… you, Riggs…"

Then, with a tug from his best friend, they would uncontrollably kiss their lips upon another as they use their tongues at the moment. Then they would roll all over the garden until they were filthier than the earthworms that inhabited it. The heat between each of the two friends overwhelmed Rigby's mind as his imagination sadly went away. Reality came back into play as he saw Mordecai pulling weeds again. Rigby could only smile at the thoughts as he refocused back on the weeds; which were not really easy to pull.

_Damn, I'm so weird to think this of this crap… _

Suddenly, the raccoon's body flinched dramatically as he felt a cold spot hit the back of his skull. His body went into full shock as the freezing, sub-zero H2O made his body quiver as he felt the hot and cold temps throughout his body. The heat… and coldness… the raccoon felt as if he was being crushed by an iceberg in the middle of a beach.

During this time, he could see his friend being splashed by water from Five's water bottle; the bottle literally pouring on top of Mordecai's head as it splattered upon the dirt. The surprised, while emotionally, irritated raccoon had a sudden hunch of who was pouring water on his furry head… that damn Muscleman.

"**AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! STOP IT!" **

Rigby could only focus on himself as he spun around and reached for the freezing water bottle from the vile (and fat) criminal. Muscleman resisted Rigby's action and held the bottle above his head while pushing Rigby's wet head back with his other hand. The furious and enraged raccoon's eyes bulged as his arms scrambled all over the place while Muscleman laughed sinisterly at Rigby; he poured the rest of the bottle on Rigby's eyes and muzzle.

"Ah, come one Rigby. Fives and I thought that you two wanted to cool off. So we managed to get you and Mordecai all wet… for each other… hehehe…"

Rigby stopped his movements after hearing that, rubbed the water from his crinkled-up face, and felt as if the Gods of war have sprung more rage into him. He screamed at an ear-splitting pitch at the zombie and yelled directly the startled douche; Muscleman's hands shook from the yelling, while trying to hold the furry head still, as the blob felt weak against the raccoon for the first time in his life.

"**STOP … TAAAALLLLKKING!"**

His fingernails immediately clawed the green, and now fragile, hand on his fumed-up head. Muscleman yelped from the pain and jumped back. Rigby then performed a somersault along the ground, his teeth clenching to almost breaking point, as he sprung onto Muscleman's face and started punching him left and right as fast as he could. His crotch was practically on the hideous being's top lip; but the vehement maniac didn't care. He was loss in a world of hate and destruction. That's all he wanted to do; to beat the living hell out of Muscleman.

_**How dare he say that! I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM! I won't let him… **__I won't let him hurt me… or Mordecai…no … __**I'm TIRED OF HIM!**__**AHHHHH!**_

Rigby's eyes filled up with tears as he couldn't control his deep rage. This was for all the times that Muscleman has hurt and made fun of him and Mordecai… no one was going to touch his love unless he has something to do with it. Muscleman continued to yell in agony before the raccoon began being tugged back by someone. Rigby resisted from getting off of Muscleman before realizing that Mordecai and Fives were pulling at him to get off.

"RIGBY! RIGGS! YOU GOTTA STOP DUDE! IT WAS JUST WATER, MAN!"

Rigby's anger automatically decayed as he rubbed his eyes. Mordecai was able to pull the startled raccoon hard enough to get him off the bruised and abused zombie. Rigby couldn't utter a word; his body froze as he felt nothing but only the feathers of his love. Wide-eyed and absent-minded, the raccoon stared back at what he did to Muscleman's face, small scratches here and there with minor bruises, and then he couldn't help but stare at Mordecai. Stare into his worried… deep… eyes. The world went silent, Muscleman's screaming and Mordecai's voice fainted away, as Rigby felt a little light-headed and strange from Mordecai shaking him and holding his heavy head up. His heart beating and a sharp ring noise could only been heard of as Rigby continued to stare into Mordecai's pleading eyes; his pupils growing bigger and bigger… until he succumbed to total darkness.

"RIGBY?"….

"Rigby?"…

"_Rigby?"…_

"_rig-…by…_

* * *

><p>…<p>

…rig…

"RIGBY!"

Water splashed down on the raccoon's face as he scrambled to his feet. Mordecai, Fives, Skips, Pops and a pissed-off looking Muscleman all stare down on him. Rigby had his eyes widened as he clenched his hands and looked to his left and right. All of them were moved under a tree garden as Rigby spoke out.

"uh… what the hell happened, dude?"

They were all still outside with the sun blazing on top of the six of them. Mordecai smiled with relief and satisfaction as he hugged his best friend tightly.

"Oh my god, dude! I thought you were gonna die on me! I'm so glad that you are alive." The full-of-joy bird's eyes widened with happiness to the point that he wasn't tired anymore. Rigby gently smiled back, yawned, and continued hugging Mordecai; embracing the feel of his plumage. Fives couldn't help but smile along with the two friends. But Muscleman scoffed and touched his bruises on his cheeks again. Rigby looked over at Pops, who was cheerfully giggling at the jubilant event.

"OH, GOOD SHOW! We're so glad that you are alright! When you fell unconscious, Fives went out and got me and Skips to come help. Right Skips?" Pops looked to his side as he glanced at Skips. Skips smiled and nodded his head.

"You'll lucky you survived that heatstroke. Not many go through one without having a problem afterwards. But it seems like you are in good shape." Mordecai gleamed down at Rigby and began to Rigby's body, which was laying on the wings of his best friend, Mordecai began carrying the weakened raccoon up. Rigby twitched his body as he looked up at the bottom of Mordecai's chin with the sunlight casting light to outline his form. The tree leaves glimmered as the background as, to Rigby's eyes, Mordecai's form seemed to glow.

_He's so… handsome…_

The heat of his plumage-covered body… just being in his grasp felt so… refreshing. Rigby fell silent and motionless as Mordecai spoke out to the others; he could hear the baritone in the avian's voice as it boomed throughout the body that he was carried by.

"Come on, let's get inside. It's freaking hot out here."

They all started heading away from the weed less garden, except for Muscleman; speechless and furious. He stomped his way in front of everyone else in the group and held his hand up.

"**HOLD ON A SECOND!** HAVE ALL OF YOU LADIES LOST YOUR FREAKING MINDS?" He gave the most enraged glare at the raccoon and pointed. "RIGBY ATTACKED ME! **ME!** LOOK AT HOW MUCH HE DID TO MY **FACE!**" Muscleman pointed at his face; his shaking hand directed the other's eyes at his minor bruises and some scratches that could heal up in a day or so. Mordecai grimaced coldly at the zombie.

"Muscleman, get over yourself. Rigby just suffered from a heat stroke. The least you can do is be happy that someone didn't die from your lame ass prank."

Muscleman's body shook as he clenched his teeth and fist.

"HOW THE HELL DID HE HAVE A HEAT SROKE WHEN I FREAKIN' POURED WATER ON HIM BEFORE HE JUMPED ON MY FACE, PUCHED ME, AND THEN FELL DOWN?"

Skips raised his brows all the way up.

"Wait, you poured water on him?" Muscleman died his voice down as he touched his bruise again on his face.

"Yeah, they both got water on themselves from my awesome prank that I thought of… You know who else got wet today? MY MOM!" Muscleman held himself up and smirked. Fives smudged a disappointed grimace at what his friend said about him making the prank up. Skips, ignoring Muscleman's joke, twisted his body and looked over Rigby.

"Rigby, how did you feel right before you felt unconscious?"

Rigby gave Skips the 'WTF?' look and held his hands out.

"I felt all pissed off and angry. But that's all I remember, all right? Yeesh, can we just go inside now?"

Skips only motioned his head in a nod.

_Hmmm… it's as if he has…the same issue as… maybe…_

Skips and everyone else grimaced and headed back to the central house; during this time, Muscleman was laughing and scoffing of how Rigby was lucky because Benson wasn't here with them.

* * *

><p>Thirty minutes have passed after arriving at the house as Rigby, his energy sort of worn off, laid on top of the couch with a bag of ice on his head. He was, of course, moaning dramatically for Mordecai to get a cup of water for him.<p>

*breathes in* "Mooooooooooo-"

"HERE, man, here! Stop moaning for peace sake."

Mordecai brought in a glass full of clear water and sat it by Rigby, who gulped it down like it would be his last drink. The avian sat right near the raccoon and slouched down from being totally bored. When Rigby finished his drink, he sat the cup down on the ruff carpet, grabbed the remote, and turned on some TV. When the power was clicked on, the TV screen only showed static; the black and white lines going randomly all over the place. On some part of the screen there were green and pink dots that were stained on the glass. Rigby grunted and looked up in annoyance.

"Why did Muscleman use magnets on the TV? WHY?" Mordecai said nothing as he just stared at the static. Rigby lifted his head at the annoyed avian.

"Mordecai, can you hit the TV on it's back? Please?"

Mordecai rolled his eyes, dropped to the ground, rolled across the carpet, and hit the TV with his wing. As always, the TV made some twitching noises before fully coming on. It automatically went black as there was nothing going on from what the two can see. But they knew that their TV would come on any moment now. Any… moment… they just needed patience.

Mordecai got out his phone and checked the time.

_1:16 p.m._

"Dude, when is she gonna call us?" Mordecai laid back his head as he groaned to himself. Rigby fixed himself up, dropped the ice bag with it's ice mostly evaporated away, and placed his eyes right on Mordecai.

"Dude, don't worry. She'll call in a little bit." Rigby looked back at the TV; he felt as if someone was hitting him on the shoulder with their finger. His love… correction, true love… was right there worrying if and when Margaret, the bitch of the year, was going to call the avian. It was really annoying as Rigby shrank his mouth size and pushed his bows down. Mordecai was everything to him, and he was just watching Margaret take the helpless bird away from him. The raccoon imagined himself taking a bat and smacking her pretty face every time she giggled. It was… annoying and irritating to see his Morde' fall in love with that red monster. If only he could have the guts to tell Mordecai of how he felt for him.

Rigby's zoning at the black screen blanked out as he saw that the TV finally had figures on the screen. The raccoon picked up the remote and clicked on it. But nothing happened. Rigby clicked again… nothing. Rigby fixed himself on the cushy couch and clicked again. And again. And again. Still nothing. Rigby stood on the couch and started pressing the remote like he was some sort of typewriter for the New Yorker.

"Come on… work baby, WORK!" Mordecai looked over from his phone and saw the determination that his friend had to change the channel.

"Rigby, did the batteries die just now?"

After hearing Mordecai's reasoning, Rigby's tapping on the remote began to slow down into a halt. The raccoon flipped the remote and checked for batteries; the two looked worn out while pieces of tape were attached to them.

"Pssh, I knew that they were dead, Mordecai. I… just like pressing the buttons because… it's so squishy!" Rigby sat back down and, with a twitch of his tail, laid back on the side cushion of the couch. Mordecai could only snicker at Rigby's lame excuse as he fixed his position and scooted a little closer to Rigby.

"So, what are we watching then?"

"Um, the Hydrogen channel. You wanna go get more batteries for the remote."

"Um… I don't feel like it dude."

Rigby pushed himself up and noticed that Mordecai was closer to him than before. Yet the raccoon thought nothing of it, just figuring it was just coincidence; he continued to watch the TV.

_You're watching the Hydrogen channel! Live quietly!_

"Mordecai, can you go and get Batteries? Please?"

"No man, I actually like this channel." Rigby raised a brow and glanced at Mordecai; his wings over the couch and in a slouch position. The avian seemed to be taking the moment to relax. An empty space was between the raccoon and the avian as they glanced back at TV.

_Coming up next, the Nice Girl Club is getting pretty crazy when Amy and Bethany fight over who gets to get into the new one-person spa they just bought with the club._

"Gah, Mordecai! Please? These girls fight over the most stupidest stuff!"

"Shhh, dude! I wanna see what happens." Mordecai gave a smirk and kept switching his vision back and forth from the ticked off raccoon and the 'good' show. Mordecai didn't really like this show as much as the next guy (or raccoon), but he found it fun teasing with his best friend. It was funny (and cute) at the same time; especially when Rigby gives off his 'pissed at the world' face.

"_Bethany, I want to get in the spa!" _

"_Amy, please. There's only room for one person to get in. Why don't we get into a compromise in that we will agree that we can take turns getting into the spa."_

"_No! Instead, I'm gonna 'compromise' your __**face!"**_

The two girls on the show start slapping each other like a small cat fight (and the fight looked so fake). Then Bethany and Amy both trip over each other and fall into the spa; almost knocking themselves out. The other girls in the club sprung out after hearing the splash of water and rush to help the girls.

Rigby scoffed and rolled his eyes. He looked right back Mordecai, who seemed to be a little bit closer to his body. Rigby smiled to himself and used his hand to push his body just an 'ency, wincy' bit closer to his friend. He then sat up, noticed that he was only about ten inches away from the bird, and then again continued his complaining.

"Dude please? Just, do me a solid!"

Mordecai gleamed at Rigby as his beak revealed a smudge of a grin.

"Fine then, but you owe me a solid later, k?"

Rigby grinned and put his arms over each other.

"Totally dude."

They both stared at each other, mesmerized by each other's looks. They were so close to each other… so _very_ close. It was… non-normal… but spectacular. Their body's heated up as they nervously grinned at each other. Mordecai looked at Rigby as if his life was complete; the feeling he got from his best friend's smile was like seeing Niagara Falls for the first time. But at the back of his head were images of Margaret smiling and laughing.

"_Hey Mordecai, don't forget about me… I Love You…"_

Mordecai snapped out of his daze as he pushed himself back from Rigby and quickly got up; breaking the touching silence between the two.

"Ummm… be right back… dude."

The avian walked off as Rigby twitched his nose and stared down at his limped tail. Mordecai walked upstairs, the wood creaking within the awkwardness, and headed into the bathroom. The wet towels, one blue and the other brown, fell down after Mordecai closed the door that used to hold the towels up. Nevertheless, Mordecai paid no mind to the towels as he looked at his reflection. Lost… within his own thoughts.

_What am I doing? Why am I so attracted to him?_

The avian stared at his eyes, the two orbitals carrying their own bags underneath themselves. The images from last night still crept up within his own thoughts as Mordecai turned on the sink and put his plumage-covered hands into the flow of water; his hands feeling clamp before putting them in the water. He bent his head down and splashed water on his face.

_Oh my god, I need to wake up! I should have drank that coffee when I had the chance to. I can't think straight… straight…_

That word seemed to bobble all around his cranium as he looked up at his own reflection; confused and befuddled…

_Straight… _

Was he thinking something he shouldn't be? Is he losing his head? Why was he so attracted to Rigby all of a sudden? It's like his deep and dark feelings were finally coming out. His beak quivered as Mordecai touched his face and felt the feathers of his wet cheek.

Is he finally thinking… _straight_?

_I can't be flirting with him. I already have a girlfriend. She's… everything I need… right?_

After turning the water off, the bothered and tired avian reached for a towel on the back of the door and wiped his face. He then walked on out, his fingers still pinching his brow, and opened a small storage door where random supplies were stored in. To the left side of the small and compacted space were the double-A batteries.

"MORDECAI! Where are YOU?"

Mordecai rolled his eyes, snatched two batteries and headed downstairs. His stepping slowed down as he saw Rigby and Muscleman on the couch; Muscleman being on Mordecai's spot. Muscleman took his shirt and threw it on the floor as Mordecai walked around and sat on the ground near to where Rigby laid on the couch. The zombie laughed out loud as he looked at the two friends who were only a small space away from each other. Rigby rolled his eyes and held his hand out to Mordecai; who handed the batteries to his friend.

"Sorry Mordecai, but he wouldn't move." Rigby slid the batteries into the remote and put the cap on it. Mordecai only shrugged as he faced the T.V.

"It's no big dude." Mordecai moved his beak near Rigby's awaiting ear and mouthed under his breath, "Muscleman needs the space anyways." They both snickered quietly and looked back at the T.V.

"_Amy, thank you for sharing the spa with me! This is so relaxing!"_

"_Of course Bethany, do you know why?"_

Bethany and Amy both looked at the camera filming them.

"_Because we are GOOD GIRLS!" _They both laugh and start splashing water on each other.

Muscleman laughed his hideous laugh, which sounded like he was throwing up with his bottom lip up, and pointed at the screen.

"THEY ARE 'GOOD' GIRLS… LIKE MY MOM! HAHAHA!" The fat blob started rolling around of where he sat at and held his eyes shut. He was just utterly… annoying. Rigby and Mordecai had pissed off expressions as Rigby prepared himself to change the channel. Suddenly, Rigby's small and black phone started ringing; it's ringing entangled with the intolerable laughs of Muscleman. Rigby immediately picked the phone while Mordecai tried hushing Muscleman with his 'shushing' and stare down. With a flip of the phone and an unknown number shown of who was calling him, Rigby put the phone to his small ears and began talking.

"Hello, who is this?"

"Rigby? Hey, it's Eileen"

The raccoon's ears perked up from this. With a few clinks and gears shifting with the right momentum, he realized that he never got Eileen's phone number before; which meant that she wasn't on Rigby's contact list… yet.

"Oh, hey Eileen, my ummm…" He stared at Mordecai and switched glances to Muscleman, both quiet as if they were mice. Well… Mordecai was; Muscleman (for some strange reason) was snickering to himself. Rigby looked back at the phone and made a fake cough.

_What's a good 'girlfriend' name for her? Come on Rigby, THINK!_

"… excuse me. I had to cough… my sweet 'Molie-polie'!" Rigby scrunched his face and made the world's fakest, and believable, cute face he can make to the phone. Mordecai raised a brow while Muscleman snickered even more. Rigby awkwardly and uncomfortably waited for a reply.

"… Rigby? Wait a second… oh, right! We're pretending were dating, right? Gotcha…"

Rigby kept his 'cutie' act going as he started use small hand gestures to the phone.

"Yep, that's right Eileen, or should I say… Ei-luv-u!"

Muscleman snickered louder as he slapped his knee from his uncontrollable behavior. But Mordecai remained silent… his face was as blank as a stick person.

On the other line, Eileen twirled her hair and sat on her stool at the Coffee Shop; her work attire, stained with some spilled coffee, were still on her.

"Well, anyways, Margaret accidently dropped her phone while doing dishes just about twenty minutes. But she and I are almost ready to go meet you guys at Mini's. You know, the mini golf club." 

Rigby snapped his fingers and pointed at the phone like as if the mole was really there with him.

"Yeah, I know that. Wanna meet up there around two or so?"

In the background noise, Rigby could hear Eileen shouting to Margaret of the future plans. With a small 'yes' from the background, Eileen shifted her face back to the phone call.

"Ok, sure Riggs. We're practically done with our shifts for today. So… how are you and Mordecai doing?"

Rigby glanced at Mordecai for a second and couldn't help but notice how tired Mordecai looked.

"Oh, we're doing fine. Nothing much happened this morning. Just a small chore and all."

Rigby didn't want Eileen to worry about him having that 'stroke' earlier today. Nor did he want her to know how tired Mordecai was.

"Ok, well… cool then. I'll, I mean, we'll see you there then around two."

Rigby scrunched his face up again and smiled with his lips pursed.

"Well, see you there! Oh yes, Love you too Molie-polie!"

Eileen could be heard snickering on the other line.

"Oh you silly. You think we're gonna fool them with our… fake relationship?"

"Of course honey. LOVE YOU!"

"… hehehe, see ya!"

Rigby hung up the phone and smiled to himself. He looked over to Muscleman and Mordecai; the zombie snickering loudly and the avian just staring at the raccoon with wide eyes. The avian then spoke out with a seldom tone of voice.

"So, dude, was that Eileen?"

Rigby nodded and flipped his phone back with a snap.

"Yeah, Margaret couldn't call you because she got water on it."

Rigby then told Mordecai of the plans that they had for today. Mordecai didn't say much as he replied with his head. Muscleman got done with his snickering and got off his seat.

"Well, you two ladies have fun going out and all. Oh…" He stops himself in his tracks and points at the raccoon. "Hey Riggs, great job on getting a girl."

He walked off with a grin that looked like it came from hell. Rigby and Mordecai just shook their heads in disgust as they got up. Rigby looked back at the T.V. and saw the same quote from the Hydrogen channel. He simply shook his head and turned it off.

* * *

><p>"So, which way do we take again?"<p>

Rigby held his phone up and stared at it carefully.

"Dude, it says to take a left right about… now!"

"NOW?"

"YES, NOW!"

Mordecai double looked before swerving on over to the left side of the road; passing three lanes of traffic which were slowing down from the 'crazy' driver. Mordecai then immediately sped up and ran the red light by sharply turning into the next lane. Rigby's and Mordecai's eyes were wide opened as they continued on their way to Mini's.

"Rigby, your free GPS is the worst GPS ever dude."

Rigby crossed his arms and pouted.

"Yeesh, sorry. Just trying to help." Mordecai looked over at his friend and sighed.

"Sorry dude… I've just been feeling tired lately. I'm glad you at least got a GPS."

Rigby glanced over with his original pose and smiled.

"It's no big dude. I'm sort of tired too."

Mordecai grimaced a grin and kept his eyes on the road.

"So, guess who's birthday it is next week?"

Rigby rolled his eyes with a grin and sat his elbow on the side of the car.

"Ah, dude, don't remind me."

Mordecai laughed and waved his arms around like he was at some fiesta.

"Oh come on dude! It's your birthday! You didn't think that we wouldn't celebrate it?"

Rigby continued to look off to the side and grimaced.

"Yeah, yeah, just that last year's party was horrible man."

A flashback from last year's party came into mind as Rigby relived that moment in his thoughts.

* * *

><p>"HEY GUYS, I'LL BE RIGHT BACK!"<p>

The birthday party, full of drunk and crazy dancers and friends, continued to jam in the main room as the raccoon, who has recently turned 23, went up the stairs while jamming to the punk music all his other friends were listening to (except for Benson, who would have killed someone if he knew that this was happening at the park house). After a walk down the hallway, Rigby could hear the music dying down a little as he was mainly distracted from his own thoughts.

_THIS PARTY IS OFF THE HIZZ-HOUSE! NOTHING CAN GO WRONG FOR ME TODAY!_

The proud and confident birthday boy opened the bathroom and closed it behind him. At this point, he couldn't hear any music from the party downstairs. Yet he does not realize this while he checks himself out in the mirror; pointing and winking at himself.

"Yeah, I look like a G, man!" Rigby flicked his fur before turning to open the lid of the toilet. When he lifted it, a ghost appeared out of nowhere and yelled,

"BLAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Rigby's fur went stiff as his eyes went mellow with fear.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

He immediately turned around to witness, at the doorway, the whole bunch of party-goers/friends; pointing and laughing at his frightened face. A flash was all that could've sparked Rigby's total awareness of what was going on as he saw Muscleman take a photograph and held it up in front of everyone else.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY RIGBY!" And everyone joined in with Muscleman as they laughed along with him. Mordecai couldn't help but laugh along as he couldn't get the image of Rigby's terrified face off his mind. Rigby slapped his head and shook it in shame while Fives left his toilet position and floated right by him.

_Gah, I'm surrounded by immature idiots._

* * *

><p>Rigby was hitting his head after thinking of what happened at that party while Mordecai only shrugged but at the same time feel bad for him.<p>

"Hey, don't worry dude. I'll make sure that nothing is gonna screw your day up, k? We'll just have another BA party with drinks and girls… and such" He smiled sweetly towards Rigby who smiled right back uncontrollably.

"K dude, I believe ya! But we gotta start calling people and friends for it soon! What's a party if there's no one there?"

Mordecai shook his head in agreement as he stared back at the road. A few seconds of silence pasted before the avian tilted his head and looked at the green signs closely.

"So… when do we turn next?"

Rigby looked down at his phone again and pointed at it. The sun's light made it hard for the raccoon to see what was on his screen.

"Ummm… make a right in… wait, make it NOW!"

"NOW?"

"YES, NOW!"

Mordecai swerved again to the right and made an immediate turn. With his amazing amount of luck, the avian and his friend were able to get to Mini's after fifteen minutes passed. Located inside part of the town they lived at, Mini's was a huge mini golf resort and the only thing close to golf in a fifty mile radius. Most people usually went during the weekend; so of course a lot of random people were there. Mordecai and Rigby parked their car, which was borrowed from Pops, and both walked down a couple of blocks until they reached the entrance. A huge golf ball statue stood near the entrance at a height of about ten feet and about seven feet in diameter. Kids were seen trying to climb the white orbital but failed due to the fact there was nothing to grip on to. Mordecai and Rigby smirked and stared each other while passing the golf ball.

"Hey Rigby, see what I see?"

"Yeah man, kids trying to climb on balls."

"Dude, we are so immature."

They laughed to themselves, wiping their joyful tears, and headed through a small white building that had the sign 'Entrance' on it. Once inside, they looked around to see that they were in some sort of fun land, mainly for kids 7-14; arcade games, tickets being counted by kids, a food concession that seemed to sell hot dogs, and flickering lights that made the place look even lamer. The ground was hard and was in black-and-white patterns. But what made the place more ridiculous were the people who worked there; wearing yellow shirts with pink stripes and funny looking red hats. One of the employees, with deep bags under her eyes, twisted her face and stared blatantly at the two dudes.

"Hey, welcome to Mini's. Please… enjoy."

Mordecai and Rigby saw that the girl looked like she was dead or something. Nevertheless, they waved to her. They walked around the very kid-dish arcade area, game noises bleeping and ringing into their ears, and finally sat down at an uncomfortable bleacher. (Usually they would want to play some arcade games, but there were so many kids that they didn't want to deal with little people running around them. Rigby checked on his phone while Mordecai scanned the premises. Kids… after kids crowded the place. Barely anyone over the age of sixteen was there. It made since too; who would want to play in an arcade like this, full of snotty and noisy children?

_Why are we even here in the first place? Is… is it like this outside in the golf course?_

"Hey Rigby, do you see them?"

Rigby got off his phone and looked around.

"No man. They're probably in th-"

Suddenly, straight out of the blue, the clever mole known as Eileen popped right behind Rigby with her arms out.

"RAWR!"

Rigby's body froze up immediately and ska-daddled back from the mole by moving his limbs around.

"AHHHHHhhh-…"

There he was, on the filthy floor, staring at Eileen and the snickering avian. He slapped his body to clean himself fast and bit his bottom lip.

"EILEEN, you can't do that to me! Do you remember what happened last year?"

Eileen and Mordecai couldn't help but laugh at what just happened. Rigby grumbled to himself and sat back on the bench. Eileen went around and hugged her 'man.'

"Oh Riggs, I'm sorry. A girlfriend like me should have never done that." Rigby took a glance back up to Mordecai and then quickly put his hand on Eileen. He wanted to make sure Mordecai was totally paying attention to them. He didn't know why exactly, but he felt better if he could make Mordecai notice how much he cares about his 'partner.'

"Oh Eileen, it's okay sweety. You can do that to me anytime. I don't mind." He put the biggest fake smile, again, to show his caring for the mole. Eileen could only giggle and sat near the raccoon. The two then used their noses to tease each other; moving their faces left and right as their noses rubbed each other.

Mordecai watched as he gulped a little. The raccoon seemed so… pleased and happy… with that mole…

_Why… why does that bother me? _The avian then spoke out to break Rigby and Eileen's fake romance.

"Hey you two romance-makers, where's Margaret?"

The two stopped with their 'act' and Eileen spoke up.

"She's getting hot dogs for all three of us. Her treat. Look, there she is."

Eileen pointed at the beautiful avian walking down the fun land carrying three hot dogs; her eyes shimmering with the flashing colors that sprung all around her. Mordecai, Eileen, and Rigby (who felt disgusted from seeing her) all stared as Margaret smiled at them from afar. Some children, who notice how kind and good-hearted she was just by looking at her, stopped in front of her and offered to help her with the load she had. Margaret sweetly smiled at the children and thanked them. Yet she said she could do it herself. She passed the group and met up with Mordecai and the other two. Mordecai just stared in awe of how gorgeous she was; even at a mini golf place like this.

"Hey Mordi-pie! Here's your hot dog." She handed one of the three over to her boyfriend and then lightly kissed him on the head. He… strangely didn't blush quite as much as he wanted to. Yet he ignored this and munched on his hot dog.

Margaret gave Eileen one and then looked dead on at Rigby. The raccoon lowered his brows when the avian held out the last dog to him. To his own imagination, Rigby imagined the room turning dark and ominous as Margaret's eyes grew dark and evil. Her voice booms with an evil cackle.

"Here you go, Rigby." The hotdog seemed to contain some vile chemical that would end the likes of him. Rigby looked up at the scary and untrustworthy bitch and held his hand out in disgust. Reality kicks back in to play when Rigby speaks up.

"No thanks, I'm not hungry."

Margaret looked at him like she was sort of disappointed of him. But she shrugged and ate the hotdog in front of him. Rigby said nothing of it and kept his thoughts to himself.

_Pfft… what a bitch._

Minutes pass by as Rigby watched his friends, and Margaret, eat their hot dogs while chatting over who was going to kick who's ass in mini golf. His best friend glanced at him and noticed how quiet he was. So with a smile and point, Mordecai spoke out,

"Hey Rigby, you are so going down."

Rigby looked up and smiled at his competitor.

"Nuh-uh, you're going down dude! WAY DOWN! OOOOOHH!"

Mordecai couldn't help but smile at the thought of that.

(You know what he was thinking ;))

Minutes passed by and they all finally got up, as in couples, and walked towards the check-in area for mini golf. They waited in a short line with only a few kids in front of them. Eileen and had her arm entangled with Rigby's arm; both standing behind Mordecai and Margaret who were which doing the same pose. Apparently, Mordecai was going to pay for him and Margaret while Rigby was going to pay for himself and Eileen. It didn't take long until Mordecai and Margaret were in front of the line with their cash out.

"Hello, two passes for mini golf course. All 18 holes please."

The same employee that welcomed Mordecai and Rigby earlier grabbed the money from the avian's hand and checked them out for proof. Mordecai nervously shook as he felt Margaret right near him; her beauty and perfume was overpowering the other avian's senses and feelings. It wasn't this nerve-racking for him, but he felt sort of… uncomfortable near her.

The seldom-looking employee handed the two love birds tickets and pointed to the direction of where two glass doors led out to the outside mini world of golf. The two birds thanked her as Mordecai was lead away by his girlfriend over to the side. Margaret then kissed him, without warning, and hugged him.

"How you doing, dear?"

Mordecai gleamed at Margaret and shrugged.

"Doing fine honey, just can't wait to kick your butt at golf."

"Oh really? Well, if you think so." she shrugged with a smile.

The two avians watched as Rigby and Eileen were waiting on the employee to count their money. Rigby usually carried a lot of ones in his wallet, so when the employee said, "$36", he literally got out thirty-six dollars. Eileen kept hold of his 'man' as Rigby grinned like he was James Bond surrounded by babes. He looked over at the two birds, who were standing completely still and not looking at each other, and raised a brow. He poked at Eileen and whispered,

"Do you see them? Mordecai looks so… off."

Eileen glanced at the two birds and met back to Rigby's eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, there's something different about Mordecai."

"You mean that he's tired? He does have those bags hanging o-"

"No, not that. He just looks… off." Rigby pierced his eyes at Mordecai. He noticed the bird's arm twitching as it was enveloped by Margaret's wings. His neck was sort of bent in as his head was in a 84° degree; with it being bent away from Margaret and his eyes sorting themselves to look at something else other than Margaret. The two continued to give glances at the two birds before the employee gave the tickets to both Eileen and Rigby.

"Thanks for coming. NEXT!"

Rigby and Eileen together got away from the awkward and tired employee before a group of kids crowded her cabinet. Eileen whispered again before meeting up with the other two.

"I don't know Rigby, but play along."

Rigby didn't get the chance to whisper in response before Margaret spoke to them only a few feet away.

"We all good? Ok, cool then. Let's go!" She pulled Mordecai, who was lost in his own world for a second, and ran off ahead. Eileen and Rigby noticed her random action and yet followed along. Eileen opened the door that Margaret and Mordecai have already gone through and pointed at Rigby.

"You know that she used to play golf all the time when she hung with her parents, right?"

Rigby stopped and put his arm to his side.

"Really?"

"Yeah, she has like about five championship trophies all based on golf."

Rigby put his finger on his chin and thought for a second.

"Wait, they weren't trophies from mini golf, right?"

Eileen shrugged while the two walked outside. The mole continued her conversation with the raccoon while marveling at the sight of the outside world; the sun shining above their puny heads.

"Yeah, but I think it won't mean that much of a difference here, right?"

Rigby rolled his eyes and looked for Margaret and Mordecai before realizing what he was really looking at. His eyes set their sights at the golf course; all cleaned up and greener than the park he called home. Small bushels of brush covered parts of the courts while statues of all different sizes and shapes helped make good obstacles in each hole. A rock trail lead to a small shack that held golf clubs in all shapes and sizes. It also had many golf balls that were colored all differently among the shelves and boxes of the shack. Margaret and Mordecai were already looking through the shack and picking up different clubs. Rigby and Eileen were able to run up close enough to hear the conversation between the two.

"So, do you want yellow, or orange, Mordecai?"

The blue avian yawned and looked at the orange one. He really liked the orange; it just seemed like a 'lucky' golf club for him. But before he could utter anything, Margaret shouted in enthusiasm.

"Wait, no, get this one! It's my favorite color!" Margaret's eyes glimmered at the sight of another club and pulled it out from the stash. This color purple made anyone's eyes pop as it begged for attention; all the way from the handle of the club to the bottom of it. Mordecai widened his eyes at it and then put an unsure smug on his face.

"Um… ok. Sure." Mordecai took the club and yawned. From behind him, Eileen shouted at the two while Rigby held on tight to her arm.

"Oooh, look! A cute lake!"

Mordecai and Margaret walked out of the shack and saw what she was talking about. Yeah, it was pretty cute lake. Yet, it was small (… and I mean small). Eileen let go of Rigby's arm and ran over to it. Mordecai shrugged, quickly grabbed his golf club and a random purple ball off the shack's shelf, and headed over to Eileen. Margaret smiled at the two heading to the lake and stared back at her golf clubs that she chose earlier. She smiled at the yellow one, but her face changed dramatically at the orange one.

Margaret was too distracted at the looks of the orange club that she didn't notice Rigby walking right pass her. She looked at the club's orang-y-ness closely and then held her tongue out in disgust.

_Actually, never mind with this one. I don't like it's color._

She looked around and eyed Rigby who was near the golf ball storage basket; his head tilted down within it while his small hands scoured through the multi-colored balls. Margaret coughed out loud and put her wing on the side of the box while holding the orange club up to Rigby.

"Hey Rigby, if you're having trouble looking for a good color, you can have this one. Here, take it."

Margaret pushed a button on the side of it and pulled the bottom of it up. The club shortened it's length and snapped once Margaret held off of the button. She then handed it to Rigby, who eyed it and her.

"What makes you think that I want that?"

Margaret smirked, stood closer to Rigby and bent down to his level.

"Here, I'm trying to be nice to you for once. Besides, isn't orange your favorite color?"

Rigby gave her a death glare. He just didn't want to interact with her much. He rather take the club from her hands and knock her head upside down. But Rigby remained calm and held his hand up in protest.

"No, my favorite color is blue. And I don't trust the likes of you. I'll get my own club." He marched passed her and grabbed a blue club from the stash. Margaret smirked and stood up. She tossed the orange club aside, the metal of it clanged along the ground, and grabbed a held on to the yellow golf club.

"Well, fine then. I was only trying to help. You can have that crabby attitude towards me all you want, but I'm just going to have fun with Morde-pie. So, have fun with Eileen." She then shook her head in disappointment while grabbing a yellow golf ball. She walked pass the pissed raccoon and out of the shack; her head held up as if she was some queen of England. Rigby just stood with his fist clenched. He replayed what she just said in his head and noticed her literally saying that all she needs is being with his true love.

_She's surely trying to take my man away. Is… she trying to break my friendship with Mordecai?_

He reached over to grab a blue ball and stared at it. He just felt like hitting the red bird with two stones; or two boulders. But the color of the ball reminded him of Mordecai; how his light blue feathers made Rigby's eyes mourn for the UV waves that bounce off his plumage and dance upon his pupil and retinal.

_Keep your eye on the ball, Rigby._

He nodded to himself and ran out with his blue equipment.

* * *

><p>"And… and… OOOOOOOOHHH!"<p>

Rigby jumped up and down and threw his club down as his blue ball went into the hole.

"SUCK ON THAT! UH UH UH!"

He raised his hands in the air while he pointed at Mordecai, who of which was carrying the chart board and pencil for the scoring. The other three remained silent as they watched the raccoon dance in a circle while pushing his crotch up like he was pawning the game.

"So, how many points was that Mordecai?"

Mordecai counted in his hands, checked the sign (that showed that the par was two in hole number five), and then tallied on his chart for the three players that have gone so far for this hole.

"Ok Rigby… you got a plus 5!"

"OOOOOOOOOHHH!"

Rigby did a small parade rally as he slapped everyone's hand that was near him. Eileen walked up with her orange club and ball and got herself ready to hit. Rigby stood on the sidelines with Margaret and Mordecai as he glanced right at Eileen with anticipation and nervousness. Eileen looked over at the hole and bent down to study the small hills of green. The shadows of the course helped her see where to hit at; so when she hits that golf ball, it won't roll in a ditch or something. Rigby cheered her on quietly with his back bent and his eyes widened. Eileen stepped up near the ball and with a few twitches to move her body, she hit the ball over some hills. Her orange ball skidded right near the hole before it came to a halt.

"Go Eileen! WHOOO!" Eileen smiled at the raccoon and walked over to where her ball stopped at. Margaret and Mordecai said their cheers and clapped right after Rigby got done doing his cheering. While Eileen was fixing herself for the next stroke, Margaret shifted her view toward the happy and highly-anticipated raccoon beside her. She imagined him in cheerleader's clothing and with make-up and all. She smirked to herself and thought,

_Well, it does fit him quite nicely._

"GO EILEEN GO! You got this babe!" Rigby couldn't help as he grabbed his ears as if they were ponytails. Eileen kept focus and with a final stroke, the ball landed right in the hole. Rigby jumped in the air as the other two birds praised Eileen with her excellence. Rigby ran over and hugged her. Eileen rolled her eyes and gave a big grin.

"Rigby, are you gonna hug me every time I make it into the hole?"

Rigby continued with his 'boyfriend' role and allowed Eileen to wrap her arm around his.

"Of course Molie-polie."

Eileen giggled as the two finished and met up with Margaret and Mordecai; Margaret looking over at Mordecai's chart. The blue avian finally counted the points and looked up.

"So far, Margaret has a negative three, I have a negative one, Eileen is on zero, and you Rigby… you have a positive twenty one."

Rigby said yes to himself but tried not to gloat too much of his victory.

_All these guys are suckers!_

Margaret noticed Rigby's prideful behavior and rolled her eyes as if she was surrounded by idiots. Mordecai clipped his pencil to the board and pointed straight ahead.

"Ok guys, *yawn*, to the next one."

All three of them looked at Mordecai's face and body position. The avian was obviously half-awake and his legs shifted inward. Margaret wrapped her arm around Mordecai and looked at the concession stand that stood about twenty feet away.

"Guys, I'm gonna get Mordecai some coffee. You guys want something?"

The other two shook their heads while Mordecai waved his arm up.

"Margaret, *yawn*, I don't need coffee that bad. I swear."

Margaret smiled at her boyfriend and as she guided him across a nearby bridge; the sleepy avian stumbling and wobbling back and forth. Eileen glanced at Rigby and scratched her head.

"So why is he so tired all of a sudden?"

Rigby shrugged and thought for a moment.

"I don't know, maybe it's because we woke up late."

"Did you guys party last night?"

Rigby chuckled and put his swayed his arms at her.

"Girl, please. We don't party all the time. All we did yesterday was go to a book store and buy some comics. That's all…" Rigby's brain then clicked as he remembered the topic he discussed and investigated about with his friends. With a snap of his fingers, Rigby got Eileen's full attention.

"Eileen, do you know what CHOM is?"

Eileen raised a brow as she cleaned her glasses with her shirt.

"Um… no. Never heard of a place that sounds like a strip bar."

Rigby chuckled and put his arm on Eileen's shoulder.

"Well, don't I have a story to tell you."

Rigby took hold of his and Eileen's equipment as the two of them walked to the next hole. Along the way, the raccoon vividly explained everything that he experienced that day; the promise Mordecai made to Rigby about getting comics, that the CHOM building was mistaken as a comic store, the whole mystery of the place, the book store that they came across, and the moment that he started a race against Mordecai to find the comics first.

They sat at a bleacher near hole no. 6 before Rigby continued with his story.

"So, there I was, running down the aisle after isle, looking desperately for those comics. Then suddenly a parrot dude came up behind me and I asked whe-…I mean, he asked me if he could help. Apparently this guy was new to the job and what not, and so I allowed him to help me. Oh, this parrot guy was named Jeremy and he is obsessed with Shakespeare! I mean OBSESSED Eileen, OBSESSED!"

Eileen put her finger on his lips to hush him up before she could respond.

"Yeah, I sort of know him actually. We meet all the time at the coffee shop. He's pretty cool."

Rigby's ears went up as he was reminded that Jeremy really liked Eileen (which he still couldn't process through his head). His smile grew wider as he poked the mole's shoulder.

"You should totally go out with him! You two were perfectly made for each other."

Eileen's eyes widened and looked off to the side. She twirled her hair and couldn't help but give a small grin at the thought of Jeremy.

"Well, he is kind of cute." Then a thought crossed her mind as she glared at Rigby."Wait, you're not lying, right?"

Rigby put his arms up, gesturing her to calm down.

"Yeah, seriously Eileen, this guy totally likes you. No, he like freakin' loves you!"

Eileen blushed and fumbled with her thumbs.

"No, that's highly impossible. No one… really likes the way I… look…"

Rigby twisted her face and slammed his forehead upon hers.

"Eileen, HE LIKES YOU! GO OUT WITH HIM!"

Rigby let go of her face and saw how surprised Eileen was. Before she could respond, the two could hear Margaret and Mordecai talking and laughing as they made their way to Rigby and Eileen.

"Oh, hey you two. Guess what, Mordecai is awake now! YAY!" Margaret kissed her man as he drinked from his huge… and I mean HUGE… cup of coffee. He smiled and blushed hard as he looked over his board again; his body though was as stiff and uncomfortable as can be while standing close to Margaret. He just didn't look… right, like he was out of place. Margaret didn't realize this since she really felt close to him. Mordecai felt her plumage rub against his, and it felt so nice. Yet… it just didn't feel… right.

Mordecai's deep thoughts were disrupted when Rigby yelled loudly,

"LET'S PLAY SOME GOLF!"

* * *

><p>Margaret positioned herself near her yellow golf ball and smacked it hard. The ball traveled quickly through the windmill, barely missing the blades that circled around the front of the mill, and went straight into the hole. She held up hands in victory while Mordecai and Eileen cheered her on. Rigby only applauded by slowly clapping his hands. Margaret yelled,<p>

"Tenth time I got a HOLE IN ONE!"

Mordecai only stroke the chart board once with his pencil and looked at the par for the fifteenth hole.

"Alright Margaret, you have a score of negative 12!" Margaret hugged Mordecai and hive fived Eileen. She raised her hand up to Rigby hoping that he would high five her. Rigby's eyes widened as he thought of the negative score while he ignored Margaret.

_Wait, what?_ Rigby left Margaret hanging as he twisted his head to Mordecai.

"Mordecai, why is that a good thing? She has negative points, dude." Before his friend spoke, Margaret scoffed and swung her club like she was performing on Broadway.

"Actually Rigby, the score is good when it's negative; since you have to hit the ball at the least amount of times. The bigger your number is, the worst of a player you are."

Rigby eyes widened as he took in the sudden rules.

"REALLY? Mordecai, what's my score?"

Mordecai looked at the scoreboard, slurped some more of his coffee and counted for like a minute.

"Ummm, dude… you have a positive fifty-six."

Rigby's temperature rose as veins popped from his eyes. He boomed,

"**WHAT?"**

He threw his club down and pouted to himself. Margaret walked over bent down to his level and gave him a touching hug.

"It's alright Rigby. You deserve a BIG hug." Rigby groaned in disgust as he felt her plumage.

_Get the Fuck off me, get the fuck off me…_

He then felt four more arms surround him as he saw Eileen and Mordecai join in on the hug. He couldn't help but blush from the idea of Mordecai hugging him, but those ideas were obscured when still felt Margaret hugging him. The squeezing and the heat almost made Rigby claustrophobic.

"Guys… guys, you can get off me now… Get Off Me... NOW!"

The three laughed out loud as they lay off from Rigby. The raccoon grumbled to himself as he swiped any debris on him. Margaret cheerfully said,

"Oh Rigby, we were just teasing around with you. Come on guys, next hole!"

Margaret took Mordecai by the arm and strolled down another stone path. Eileen and Rigby followed along as the two birds, copying the birds' actions.

Thirty minutes passed and all four golf players were at their last hole. Eileen had just recently went and Mordecai was the last one to play. He dropped his board, coffee and pencil to the side and while he switch places with Eileen, Rigby gave him thumbs up and exclaimed,

"Yyyeee-aahhhh, you got this dude. Go sink that hole in." Both of them raised their hands up, waved them in a semi circles, and were going to high five each other. But right before they could finish their warm-up high five, Margaret walked right up between the two and gave her boyfriend a huge good luck kiss and playfully pushed him forward.

"Hit that ball, boy."

Mordecai stumbled a little, caught himself and looked back at his friends; who all smiled and raised their hands in unison to cheer him on. Mordecai put the purple ball down and placed his club near it and pierced his eyes at the hole.

Without Mordecai noticing, Rigby glanced at Margaret and brought his brows down.

_Really? She would seriously interrupt my high five with Mordecai? What's her fucking problem with me?_

Mordecai shook his head and walked over to the hole. He bent down and literally looked at the different elevations on the mini hills. While the bird focused on his game, Rigby put his hand on his side of his mouth and whispered to Margaret.

"You're a total bitch, you know that?"

Margaret kept smiling and acted liked the raccoon said nothing. Rigby continued to glare at her; pissed at the fact that she was ignoring him.

"Hey… hey! Hey Bitch!"

She still said nothing as she only watched Mordecai really taking the game seriously. Mordecai licked and held up his finger to test the wind. There was a gentle breeze that blew by; passing by the pissed raccoon who was frustrated that he was failing at getting Margaret's attention. He gritted his teeth and tried again; his voice a little louder than what he wanted.

"Why the HELL would you that to me? I was going to high five him like we always do and you just waltz your way in between us and kiss him like the Bitch you are!"

Mordecai's ears rang as he sort of heard some words from Rigby. Words that sounded… harsh and mellow. The whispering sound for the raccoon's voice hushed as the avian's head curved over his shoulder in curiosity.

"Rigby, did you say something?"

Rigby's hand went immediately down as he swung his nose towards Mordecai and shook his head like a maniac.

"Um, no dude. I didn't say anything. Just the wind!"

Rigby smiled nervously while his shoulder shrugged all the way up. Sweat of total fear traced down his scalp as Rigby stared intensely at Mordecai; who eyed him in suspicion. Mordecai turned around and repositioned himself again for the second time.

Margaret snickered under her breath as she gleamed down at the nervous-as-hell raccoon; still staring at Mordecai and his feathers of blue.

"Hey Rigby, nice… very nice. While you're at it, do you mind calling me a slut too like you did last week? Huh? ... Piggy-Riggs should be a nickname for you."

As she said this, Mordecai purposely paid attention to the slightest of noise. He knew that he heard Rigby whisper something nasty to Margaret, but when he heard his girlfriend's voice say the words 'pig' and 'slut', he knew that Margaret was going against his best friend with a retaliation. Mordecai slammed his golf club down and face the two that mattered most to him with cold and brutal eyes that sent shock waves to both Margaret and Rigby. He pointed toward them and yelled,

"**Margaret, Rigby,** what are you two mouthing about?"

The two accused ones stood completely still; they felt as if Mordecai suddenly had the ability to constrict their bodies with his finger. Eileen fixed her glasses as she glanced to her right and saw Rigby shaking like crazy while her other friend was remaining still as a flag pole. The two guilty beings were shocked and nervous of what Mordecai heard. Eileen held her finger up and spoke on their behalf.

"They weren't saying anything, as far as I could tell."

"No, Eileen. You don't have to defend us."

Mordecai lowered his hand slowly as he turned his direction to Margaret, who had fixed herself up quickly and spoke with a calm tone of voice.

"Mordecai, all we were talking about was if you were going to do good or not. I said that you were going to get it in one shot, but Rigby…" she cocked her head at Rigby, who had his fist clenched and his body still shaking nervously. She lowered her brow and spoke.

"… he said that you were going to miss it. Right Rigby?"

Rigby's line of vision was drawn up at Margaret and then shifted right to Mordecai; the blue avian with his arms over each other… just waiting for an answer. Rigby looked down and relaxed his shoulders.

_Whew… I thought he knew what we were saying! Good thing Margaret told him that… uh, wait… she's such a Bitch! I have to be the douche of the day… fuck you Margaret…_

"…yeah, I thought you were gonna miss it since your footing was wrong…"

Rigby looked off to the side and shifted his eyes at Mordecai; the raccoon's body was in a disappointed sort of pose while his back was slouched and his tail laying on the ground. Mordecai straightened his back and stared Margaret vaguely.

_Why… I know that they weren't talking about my game… why would she lie to me like that?... and make Rigby look bad?_

Mordecai completely understood the whole situation; the fact that Rigby had no choice but to lie so that he himself would not find out about Rigby and Margaret fighting behind his back. He wanted to confront them and say that they were lying; but Alicia's advice, all with the Russian accent, echoed in his mind that told him not to go and confront the problem yet. Mordecai shook his head and went over to his golf club.

"Hehehe, I knew you said that Rigby! Here, is my footing wrong now?" Mordecai positioned himself for the last time and just… **BAM!** His golf club swung so fast that the impact made his purple golf ball fly over the whole golf course. Everyone watched in utter silence of Mordecai's swing; Rigby couldn't help but smile with his mouth open in awe while Margaret and Eileen both having the same shocked expression plastered on their faces and with their hands over their mouths. Mordecai gave a happy smug towards Rigby as they continued to watch the ball, far off in the distance, until it went behind the Mini's main building and disappeared from sight. They waited till they heard faint glass clashing and shattering; followed by a car alarm that blared throughout the area. From what the four could see, pigeons flew from the crashing sight and over the Mini's building. Mordecai had on a mixture of shock, tribulation, and pride feeling as his body shook up from what he just witnessed. He quickly turned to the other three and tilts his head to the exit sign.

"Let's leave… now."

They agreed and speed-walked out, in unison, of the golfing course.

* * *

><p>The four continued to speed-walk as they passed the arcade and the screaming and laughing children who were acting like wild and immature brats. The main exit door was in sight before the lame and boring employee, they met earlier, stood in front of their way with her hand up. She didn't look sad, mad, nor happy; she was like… so tired (and probably sick of her life.)<p>

"Um, excuse me guys and girls… but do you want to comment of how we run this place?"

Of all four of the hesitant friends, Rigby was the only one who didn't notice the lady, probably because his eyes were glued at the glowing arcade games, and bumped right into her chest. With a bump that stopped his motive, Rigby opened his eyes from the crash and noticed that his face was touching her abdominal area. Rigby screamed and through his hands everywhere as he immediately scooted back. All three of his friends (well, make that two) all snickered as Rigby regained control of himself after freaking out. He looked at the employee, who seemed un-phased by what he did, and she shrugged and yawned out loud. Rigby brought his brows lower and stood closer to the employee.

"HEY, what the HELL do you want, Missy?"

The boring and dull employee rolled her eyes and gat a stick of gum from her pocket and brought it into her mouth. She chewed on it loudly, the smashing sound and spit was gnarling in Rigby's ear, before she blew a bubble and POPPED it. She used her tongue to roll up the gum and she continued with her chewing. This girl was really testing the aggravated raccoon's patience. Rigby looked at the others and motioned them to follow him to go around this weird and lame-ass girl-of-a-problem. But before they moved an inch, the employee held up her hand again.

*Smack, Smack* "Do you guys wanna comment on how we ru-"

"YOU RUN THIS PLACE SMASHINGLY, ALRIGHT?"

Rigby pushed the girl aside, who still didn't feel phased by the raccoon's actions, and stomped his way out of the place; the others awkwardly passing through as if nothing had happened.

Rigby pushed the doors open and held it for Eileen and Mordecai to go through; Eileen quickly kissing him and Mordecai laughing a little from what Rigby did and said to that employee. Margaret was the last one to come out of the building yet the door closed in front of her face. She pushed it wide open to see Rigby give an inappropriate, raspberry expression; his tongue sticking out between his pinkie and pointer finger while he flexed his tongue up and down. He then hastily went ahead to catch up with Eileen and Mordecai, who were chatting about what Rigby just did to that employee. Margaret rolled her eyes in annoyance before speeding up her walk towards the other three.

_He's such a pig… I can't stand his gay ass…_

Seconds passed while they walked down the parking lot, partially filled with cars, and Mordecai was still snickering about what Rigby did.

(Acts like Rigby) "You RuN tHis PlAcE SMASHINGLY! Hehehe!" He stops his act and points at Rigby. "Oh the irony of that phrase dude!"

Rigby smirked and shrugged about it. He couldn't help but freak out at times. It was just… one of his personality traits.

Margaret held Mordecai's arm and snickered along with him (even though she was acting like it was funny).

"Yeah, Rigby, you sure are a knee-slapper!" Rigby glared at her for a brief moment before Eileen went beside him and squeezed his cheeks.

"AW, my cute Rig-ums! You are so funny!" She then gave Rigby a huge kiss in the lips. Rigby felt like pushing her back due to how she kissed him; but he continued his 'boyfriend' act and passionately kissed Eileen. But in his head, he could only imagine kissing his true love passionately.

Mordecai and Margaret looked over and stopped to see the two short ones in their group kissing in the same spot for some seconds. Margaret rolled her eyes and put her hand on her hip.

_I can't believe that Eileen is really supporting this douche even though he wants my man… humph; she was always used by others all the time... She can't escape from being used…_

Eileen and Rigby stopped and both walked up ahead giggling for an apparent reason. They were really good at acting like they were really in love… actually, Rigby was the one really acting. All Eileen had to do was kiss him, since she wanted to do that to him since she first laid eyes on the raccoon.

After some minutes passed by, during of which the group declared that Margaret was the winner of the golf game (who bowed and pecked her man while Rigby pouted and said nothing), the four finally reached the girls' bug; it shining with the sun as the temperature cooled down a bit. Margaret went and playfully hit Mordecai's beak; who smiled uncontrollably.

"Oh, Margaret, is there any way we can hang out more today?"

Margaret grimaced from what he said and sighed.

"No, not today. I'm meeting up with my old college friends for the night… but we can still talk on the phone later, if you want. Maybe, you and me can hang out tomorrow if you want." Mordecai shrugged and shook his head.

"I would really like that, baby. You go and have fun with your friends, alright?" The two rubbed their beaks together which made Rigby, and somewhat Eileen, gag quietly to themselves. Margaret kissed him on the side and walked away; her dreamy eyes still on the blue, and blushing, avian. Eileen hugged Rigby and whispered that they'll talk later on the phone too (you know, so they can talk random things like about what Margaret really said to Rigby and/or any extra drama that took place earlier).

The two girls got into their car, waved goodbye and blew a kiss to their man. Mordecai and Rigby waved back as the two girls drove away in their beetle.

"There goes our girls, dude." Rigby shook in agreement and the both of them walked along with each other.

The two walked together in silence while some cars honked in the distance. Mordecai was too busy thinking of how Margaret looked under the sun… but he couldn't help but see a slim glimpse of brown fur behind her in his imagination. Mordecai shook his head of the thought and he glanced down at Rigby. The raccoon slid his hand against one of the parked cars and hummed a random tune before he looked up at the tall avian. Mordecai smiled slightly at his friend and Rigby smiled back from the bird's contagious looks. His handsomeness… his 'looks' touched the raccoon within his soul.

The two looked away from each other and stared at another car, blushing to himself. Their hands were sort of close as they swayed right near each other. They both knew that they were so close to one another. For the both of them, they had this rare unconscious force that wanted their own hand to grab the other hand of their best friend. But as awesome it would have felt for themselves and for the other, they continued to walk with that urgent and desirable feeling along the way to their car.

After they were close to their car, Rigby thought back on how Mordecai swung his club and hit the purple ball over the building. He laughed out loud and Mordecai glanced down at his friend's laughter.

"Hey dude, what are you laughing about?"

Rigby wiped a tear as he revisited the looks of Mordecai's face that came after some glass shattered somewhere in the parking lot.

"Oh, when you hit that golf ball and… heheheHAHAHAhehehe… dude, you are Hilarious sometimes… I mean." Rigby continued to laugh while Mordecai couldn't help but laugh along with him. They walked a couple more feet before Mordecai commented.

"Yeah, whoever's car I hit, they have got to be total losers for parking their car there!" Rigby and Mordecai held their hands and arms up before yelling in unison,

"LOOOOOOOSSSEEEEERRSSS!"

They laughed louder until Rigby's laugh came to an immediate stop. Mordecai noticed Rigby's lack of joyful sound and hushed up. Mordecai stared wide-eyed as exactly at what Rigby was staring at. Yes, it was their car they were staring at. But something was different about it…

Really different about it…

Mordecai dropped his beak in total tribulation chilled his body with shivers.

"Oh… crap…"

* * *

><p>"Ah… come on Mordecai, it's not that bad. But… can you really drive with this in the way?"<p>

Rigby pointed to the windshield; which had thousands of small cracks that went along the glass. The cracks lead up to a purple golf ball that was stuck within the middle of the windshield. Mordecai had his brows down and was staring, and I mean staring, right at the road that lied ahead. With the sun slowly setting in the west, it was kind of hard to see through the glass that refracted the light a little. Mordecai didn't respond to Rigby; he was kind of pissed at himself for what he did. Rigby laughed nervously as Mordecai made his upper lip lower down.

"Hehehe… maybe Pops won't know! As long as we can drive this still, we'll be fine… I think…"

Rigby twisted his head to the GPS and found that they were going to turn left in about five miles up ahead. Mordecai stopped the car at a stop light as he slammed his head on the steering wheel. His thoughts of him doing something stupid and the thought of Margaret being a complete bitch to Rigby stirred within his head. He couldn't help but groan loudly before speaking.

"Rigby, I don't know if I can afford this! We spent so much at the movie and the dating and… and games and… oh, Rigby. I don't know what to do! Have you ever seen Pops angry before?"

Rigby really thought about it as he placed his finger on his chin.

"Um, I don't really know! Huh, I mean I see him sometimes when he's standing up for what he believes in and all but not really a time when he is like… furious or enraged."

Just when he said this, another car (a hot Corvette) pulled up and stopped with loud, screeching, tire noise. It consisted of a dude, who looked like a trashy douche bag, and a hot blonde in it. His car's chrome was shining bright while painted designs of flames and dragons went along it. The motor shook the Corvette with an intense vibration; like as if the car was 'getting it on.'

Rigby couldn't help but look at it and all of it's shininess!

_That's so… beautiful… who, who drives thi-_

His thought was crossed off when he noticed the dude driving the vehicle. The douche bag was kissing all over his girl until he stopped and looked over. He pushed his shades down while he stared at the windshield of the British car. His eyes shifted at the bird, who was still on his steering wheel whimpering to himself a little.

"HEY, Hey Bird! Guess What?"

Mordecai slid his head towards the sound while keeping his depressed grimace up; his bottom eyelids twitching a little. Mordecai didn't mouth a word before the douche finished his joke up.

"**FORE!" **

The guy laughed out loud with his girl friend laughing with him. His teeth bared as small shots of spit flew out of his capped mouth. Mordecai groaned again as he faced the wheel again and shut his eyes. As for Rigby… well, his eyes were bulging as anger furrowed from his face. The raccoon grit his teeth and clenched his fist hard enough to pop someone's head off.

_How dare he make fun of Mordecai!_

"HEY FUCKER! **FORE** THIS UP YOUR ASS!" The raccoon held up two middle fingers, raising one up while the other goes down, as he continued this motive over and over again. Mordecai widened his eyes in shock as he immediately looked up to witness the douche snarling and giving his sunglasses to his girl from afar.

"YOU SON OF A BIT-"

"DON'T YOU DARE GET CLOSE TO ME FUCKE-"

Mordecai clasped his wing around Rigby's mouth and laughed nervously to smoothen the tension between the two.

"HAHAHa… funny joke Rigby! Um, sir… please excuse him but he's kind of-"

"HEY, SHUT UP BIRD. I DON'T NEED YOU TO TWEEDLY DEET FOR ME! THE RACCOON OF YOURS IS A FAGGOT WHO'S OVERDUE FOR A FUCKING LESSON!"

This man… this douche got out of his car and slammed the door behind; making his girlfriend jump back. As anyone could tell, this guy had an uncontrollable temper as he began shaking with fury; his eyes seem like they were about to burst with fire. Rigby raised his arms higher as nervous sweat crossed his brim. Mordecai pulled Rigby behind himself as the avian couldn't help himself but to become pissed off from this immature freak of nature; he pointed at the douche with no fear.

_HOW dare he make fun of Rigby!_

"HEY, NOBODY calls my friend a Faggot! Alright?"

"OH YEAH, HOW ABOUT THIS THEN?" The douche was going for a punch straight at Mordecai's beak before Rigby yelled at the top of his lungs, ran along Mordecai's back and jumped up in the air. The douche stood back and looked up before the raccoon barely missed his face as he attacked with his teeth on the guy's chin.

"AHHHH FUCK!" The douche glared down and grabbed hold of Rigby; who was still trying to chew his face off. But before he could throw him off, Mordecai went over the British Car seats and punched the loser straight in the nose. It cracked loudly as Rigby opened his mouth due to the impact from the bird's punch. The douche backed off as his back hit the side of his corvette; the girlfriend finally got out of the car and screamed. The dude's nose was bloody and purple as he groaned out loud while his hands muffled the noise. The two other guys stared at the douche of whom they just handed to. Mordecai's brows went up as he examined the dude's face; his face was bloody with a few teeth marks deep in his chin. Rigby threw his gaze off and saw the stoplight.

"MORDECAI, the light is GREEN! Let's get out of here!"

Mordecai blanked out of it and jumped back into the car with Rigby. The crazed avian slammed on the gas pedal before both of them zoomed away; leaving a dust cloud for the other two.

"OH MY GOD DUDE! THAT… was FREAKIN' AWESOME!"

Rigby held his hand up while Mordecai laughed out loud and slapped fives with his friend.

"I KNOW, right? That douche Totally deserved it!"

"TOOOOOOTAAAAALLY!"

"TOOOOOTAAAAAALLYYYYY!"

And then they did it together.

"! HAHAHAHA…"

Their car continued to go through and over hills of concrete while their laughter died down a bit. Rigby wiped a tear of joy and commented,

"Hey Mordecai, thanks for having my back. I thought you were going to like… step on the pedal and run that red light!" Rigby laughed out loud while Mordecai and rolled his eyes with a smile.

"Yeah, laugh all you want. But no one gets between me and my Rigby."

The avian's eyes widened from what he said before Rigby stopped laughing and stared at his friend.

"Wait, what did you say?"

Mordecai stuttered while his fingertips played along the steering wheel.

"Um, I meant… No one gets between me and my best friend! Yeah… You know, do you think we'll get caught for beating that guy up?"

Rigby shrugged and set his sights back at the sidewalks while the soothing wind blew his fur around.

Mordecai kept his eyes focused on the road, trying to not crash since the cracks obscured his vision of what was ahead. Rigby flicked his nose and eyed the avian for a second before turning his head back.

_Huh, thought he said, "My Rigby."… Nah, that's impossible. It's… too good to be true._

Rigby sighed under his breath and looked at his GPS. It began flashing an arrow icon before Rigby finally got what it meant. He slapped his forehead before pointing to his left.

"MORDECAI, TURN LEFT NOW!"

"NOW?"

"**NOW!" **

Mordecai swung his arms over the wheel to the left before their beat-up car swiveled over to the other side. Minutes passed before the two were able to arrive in front of the store, Bookn'; the sun slowly falling from the sky. It was around 6:27 p.m. before the car paralleled parked right near the building. Rigby and Mordecai looked up at the Book'n sign and slowly got out their car. They gently closed their car doors so that the glass in the front wouldn't shatter everywhere. Mordecai walked up ahead of Rigby and pushed and held the door open for him. Rigby thanked him and entered while the bells ding-a-linged from above.

The store was pretty empty as they couldn't help but stare at the rows of books that stacked on the shelves. The sight was always revisited every time a recent customer comes in. The store just… grabbed anyone's attention as it's gold and green walls decorations and its slick wood gave that 'look' of the perfect book store.

Rigby and Mordecai walked around to the front of the store as they saw their familiar standing at the counter… Jeremy. As it appeared to be, the colorful parrot had a brand new pair of glasses on that seemed to be a little bit smaller than the old pair and he wore his usual work clothes. He looked over at the two coming forward and waved his wing while putting his book down near the cash register.

"HEY RIGBY, MORDECAI! My Brethrens! How you two doing?"

Rigby showed up with his fist up; ready for Jeremy to fist-pump him. The parrot gleamed at the oppuritunity and held his hand up in a high five position. Rigby only grimaced as his fist only was able to pound the palm of Jeremy's feathery hand.

"Um… we'll work on it. But not much dude! Just, actually… wait, Mordecai, why are we here again?"

Mordecai crook his beak and looked upon Jeremy.

"Jeremy, where is the Lost and Found section? We need to find two London mugs that were left here yesterday." He scratched his head and smiled at a thought.

"Hehehe, funny story actually. Our friend thinks that we left our mugs in our room, and not here. So hopefully we can find them here."

Jeremy eyed the two and shook his head with a small smile and closed eyes.

"No legacy is so rich as honesty."

He paused from his Shakespearean quote before speaking again.

"Come, I know where they are at... probably."

Mordecai and Rigby stared at each other before they saw Jeremy walking to the back isle. The two shrugged and followed Jeremy to the back while their eyes started reading off titles from the books on the shelves.

A few seconds passed before Jeremy held his wing up and pointed towards the back of another isle of where a being was already at; looking through the shelf marked 'Lost and Found'.

"There it is you two. Hopefully they are back there!" The nerdy parrot tilted his glasses up as he stared at the two. Rigby shrugged and walked forward to the area.

But… as for Mordecai… time seemed to slow down… as the being from afar seemed to stain the back of the avian's mind. The being cocked his head and turned around to stare upon Mordecai and his two other friends. With a wide and excited smile, the being waved his big hand up and showed off his toothy grin. Mordecai could only whimper and self-destruct within himself before the being shouted the words that seemed to echo inside the avian's self-couscous mind.

"HEY BLUE JAY!"

* * *

><p><strong>So... for you guys feeling like I've given up on this story... DON'T GIVE UP HOPE! :D I am gonna continue with this story since SO MANY of you LOVE this story! I am so over-filled with happiness and joy from all your reviews and support! It means SO MUCH to me! x3<strong>

**Yeah, I took too long making this chapter! I'm sorry for the long wait, but I had SO MUCH work to do during the time I was trying to type! I have my busy job that takes almost all day, while I have an Deviant and a Furaffinity account. Posting artwork and all, I finally have the time to continue with this story. I work my BALLS off in this and I've been sleep-deprived since the daily activities I have to dealt with seem to make me have little free time. I only work on this story at late night and early morning, so I have been emotionally out of place in life. :/ I now have 3 different accounts that I now tka over and I'm very happy for that. But I promise that this story shall be completed! :D Please give me time to write these chapters down! I don't write short chapters because that doesn't work with me really :/ Again, THANK YOU for your amazing support and I Hoped you like this chapter! XD**

**Also, leave a review so I can see where your heads are at! Love to see reviews because that lets me coninue with this story with extra support from my fans! I LOVE YOU ALL (even the mean reviewers) because you guys read this and actually have an opinion on it! SPEAK your OPINIONS out! :D It's what makes us who we are! **

**Also, do you know who Mordecai sees in the end? You can guess if you want! All will be revealed for the next chapter! THANK YOU READERS! :)**

**And the next chapter WILL come out faster! I plan on that for sure )**

**J.G Quintal owns Regular Show... because he's a Genius! XD**


	9. Chapter 9: How can you be so Creulool?

**Author's Note: Please realize the way Mordecai's and Rigby's actions are toward each other and know something is 'up' with each other. As their feelings for each other grows the more they will act differently, just not that Huge of a change though. Thank You :)**

**Now... where did we leave off... oh yeah...**

* * *

><p>"HEY BLUE JAY!"<p>

Mordecai could only watch in shock as the muscular and buff… tiger continued to wave from afar. Mordecai could only grimace a nervous smile back to the tiger while waving his wing with little effort. Little flashbacks came back in the avian's head as he remembered the tiger helping him to his feet during that night at the gay club.

_HOLY… SHIZZZZZ… What's he doing here?_

Rigby put on a confused face as he saw the tiger waving in his direction. With a twitch in his eyes, Rigby turned around to see that Mordecai was waving right back to the stranger.

"Dude, do you know that tiger?"

Mordecai looked off from the tiger, who was wearing a black v-neck shirt and blue tight-ass jeans (his clothing helping to show most if his lean figure/muscles), and carried his eyes to Rigby; waiting impatiently for an answer.

"Ummm… yeah… sort of a long story. Come on, I'll… introduce him to you. Heh…"

Jeremy, the parrot employee, crossed his arms as he saw the other two customers/friends walk toward the tiger at the 'Lost and Found' section. Mordecai broke a sweat for every step that they took as they slowly made their way to the tiger; that of which apparently had a big grin spreading across his muzzle. With a firm handshake (sort of) and a pat on each other's backs, Mordecai could only give himself some room from the charming and good looking tiger after their 'meeting up' session. Rigby, stunned at how the muscles stood from within the beast that were outlined by the tiger's v-neck shirt, brought his brows down and acted as if he wasn't impressed. But… God! The tiger looked like some sort of model; his baggy jeans only made the tiger look better and such since the pants made him look 'huge'. Rigby really didn't know how he felt for the tiger, whether to jump on him or push him away since he was jealous of this beast's looks… that's Rigby for ya.

The raccoon turned his head to the (obviously) nervous avian; who only smiled back and pointed to the tiger.

"Ummm… Rigby… this is…-"

The avian was cut off when the tiger held up his hand and nodded like as if he was a priest of some religion.

"I'm Strip. If you'll wondering, Blue Jay and I have been long time friends WAY back in the day, right?"

Mordecai held his eyes wide as he pursed his lips from total shock and unbelief.

_Wow, not a bad lie there… Wait, his name is Strip?_

"Um… yeah. Totally WAY back in the day. Those were… good times…"

Mordecai could only scratch the back of his head as he looked down to see Rigby with a mixture of a derp face and a happy face. Rigby couldn't hold his laughter any longer as he blurted out the word that was causing him to laugh with his mouth shut.

"STRIP? STRIP? HAHAHAHAH-"

Rigby turned around and put his hands on the shelf of books as he laughed out loud with his eyes sealed tightly. Mordecai looked at Strip as the tiger looked back with a 'I'm use to it' smile. The avian could only shrug as he mouthed, "That's Rigby for ya."

Strip snickered as he mouthed, "Dude, your boyfriend is pretty cute."

Mordecai blushed harder than a brick wall as he shook his head after getting what the tiger mouthed. But right while he was shaking his head, Strip was already looking at Rigby while the raccoon was calming down.

"S- sorry S-s… Stri- HAhehHaheh-"

Again, the raccoon laughed even harder as his shortness of breath became heavier. He fell on the ground and rolled around like he was on some sort of 'trip'. Mordecai slapped his head and looked at the tiger in total embarrassment. The tiger couldn't help but snicker at the raccoon's uncontrollable behavior. He mouthed toward the avian, "Where did you catch someone like him?"

Mordecai waved his hands like he was saying "NO!" in response. Nevertheless, Strip was distracted by Rigby's attempt to get back up on his feet; stumbling and using the shelf as support. While doing this, the silly raccoon tumbled some books off the shelf; creating a huge mess around him. But Rigby didn't care; he was focusing on trying to talk at the least. Books were the least of his problems. Right now, he had to make an excuse as to why he was laughing so much.

"Okay… okay, sorry for that… hehe, it's that your name is like 'Stripe' but without the 'e'! Yeah, that's why I was laughing. And not for any other reason."

Rigby dusted himself off and squeezed his own cheeks that were hurting from his laughter. Strip crossed his arms over each other and looked at the two guys.

"So… how long have you two gone o-"

"YOU MEAN…" Mordecai talked right over the tiger's words.

"Umm… you mean… how long have we been… friends? Well, ever since middle school, Strip."

Mordecai turned towards Strip and winked only for him to see. Strip caught the avian's wink and crooked his head in confusion. Rigby coughed abruptly as he himself cut right in between the avian's and tiger's space; just barely missing the wink.

"Mordecai, what's your problem dude? Where are your manners?" The raccoon scoffed and brought his brows down at the antsy and weirdly-acting blue jay. "Let him finish…"

Rigby crossed his arms and looked over at the tall and muscular beast.

"So, Strip… What were you going to say?"

Strip scratched his head and looked up while he was inhaling air to talk. Mordecai began to become nervous as his outside world began to quiver and shake; his appearance though looking as if nothing wrong was happening. But before Strip could utter any noise, all three of their ears rang as they heard an employee yell from afar.

"HEY… RIGBY!"

The avian, raccoon, and the tiger all shifted their heads to the noise as they saw Jeremy, with his colorful feathers along his body, come toward them with heavy stomping.

"Ugh, Rigby! Why did you make this mess? This is so misfortunate." The parrot pointed at the area of books that have fallen down earlier from the raccoon's laughter period. Rigby shrugged to himself and roll his shoulders.

"It's your job to keep this area clean, Jeremy, not mine. So technically, I didn't make that mess."

Mordecai rolled his eyes and held his hand up toward Jeremy; telling the parrot to hold on a moment. The avian was just so thrilled to get an opportunity to distract Rigby from hearing what Strip had to say. Usually, Mordecai would defend Rigby's back and disagree with Jeremy, but he had to take this situation as a chance to talk to Strip alone.

Mordecai spread his wings and pushed Rigby toward the pile of misplaced books; the raccoon sort of retaliating from Mordecai's pushing.

"Dude, just do a solid for me and help Jeremy out, k? While ya' are doing this, I'm going to talk to Strip alone for a moment."

Rigby grunted while he stuck his nose up in the air.

"UGH! Fine man. You owe me a solid later, k?"

"Uh hmm, hmm. Yeah, totally."

Mordecai shook his up and down while he waved his wing to motion to Strip to follow him down a couple isles. Rigby only could glare in curiosity as he watched the avian and the tiger go behind another bookshelf; only a snap then erupted Rigby's train of thought as Jeremy told him to come help him out.

After the two were secluded from the other two, Mordecai and Strip gave each other some space and leaned on opposite sides of the book shelves. Strip only grinned with his striped arms folded over each other while he waited for what Mordecai had to say. The avian could only break a sweat from barely escaping a 'bad' situation from happening.

"Oh my god, Strip. You can't ask gay questions like that, k?" Mordecai took a cautious look around before he continued.

"Rigby and I aren't dating. Were just fr-" Strip snickered and put his arms down in a relaxed state.

"Hehehe… Sorry Blue Jay. I wasn't 'aware' that … that… wait, does he know that you'll…"

Mordecai held his head up with his wing and looked upon the tiger.

"No… none of my friends know dude. I just have been keeping it… a secret."

All the tiger did was shake his head like he understood.

"Oh, I gotcha. You mean that no one knows that you have a crush on him?"

Mordecai widened his eyes and pointed a finger up.

"Hey, hold on a second. What makes you think that I have a crush on him?"

The tiger rolled his eyes up and smiled a toothy grin.

"Well, isn't it obvious? You two look as if you were some sort of cute couple… as to what I see."

The avian felt like he croaked for a second as he stood there utter-less. Strip patted Mordecai's still body and checked his watch.

"Oh, sorry Blue Jay. Got to get going. I have to see my date tonight."

Before Mordecai could say anything else (like a "Well, Goodbye." Or any other word/phrase), Strip was scooting his tight ass away down the aisle while waving goodbye.

"I'll see you later Blue Jay!"

The tiger's tail was the last part of the tiger's body to be seen before it disappeared with the rest of it's form. Mordecai scratched his head slowly and then blinked his eyes several times.

_Rigby and… I… a cute couple?_

The avian slowly moved his body back to where his friends were; still thinking what other people would think if they saw them together. Would they care? Is it… un-natural? Or natural?

Mordecai wiped his thoughts about it as he carried his eyes from the ground to his two buddies; both finishing up the book mess. For them to take this long, it was one hell-of-a-mess to clean.

Rigby picked the last of his mess up and placed it randomly on the shelf. But that misplaced book that he took 'care' of, that was placed in a parallel direction with the shelf, immediately fell off. Rigby groaned and tried again. Alas, the book didn't want to balance on the edge of the crammed up shelf; it fell down with a loud **thud** that seemed to echo into the pissed and annoyed raccoon's ears. Rigby gritted his teeth as he picked it up shoved it right into the shelf.

"Ugh, THERE! Were done with this mess, alright?"

The irritated raccoon moaned to himself as he got off the soft carpet and patted his fur for dust. Jeremy fixed his glasses and grimace a smile that expressed satisfaction and pride.

"Alas, we are finished, for thee helped with my burden. Thank you Rigby for your time." Rigby glanced to his side and pulled his bottom lip up.

"There you go again with your… Shookepearian talk again."

"Actually, it's Shakespearian. And alas, I can't help it. The beauty of his works surpasses the knowledge I yearn to know."

Rigby covered his face up with one of his hands and pinched his brows.

"Oh my-… just don't annoy me with those quotes, k dude?"

Jeremy shrugged and crooked his beak as if he was disappointed of what his raccoon friend had said. Yet he said nothing as he could see how frustrated the raccoon looked. He didn't realize how much work irritated Rigby. He had A LOT to learn if he wanted to be friends with Rigby; and he was desperate to be friends with this raccoon since he barely had any friends himself.

Rigby fixed his furry head after he realized that his blue friend was coming from afar and bumped Jeremy to fix himself up. Jeremy raised a brow at the strange behavior from his furry friend as he straightened his employee shirt up. He whispered,

"What's the special occasion, Rigby?"

Rigby twitch his gaze from Mordecai to the nerdy parrot and muttered,

"Um… sorry bout' that. It was just… my nerves got the best of me… wait, I mean-"

Rigby tried to change what he said to Jeremy. Nevertheless, Mordecai had already stopped his stepping and put his arms to his sides in front of the other two. He talked out in a sarcastic tone as he stared down at his short (and cute) friend.

"Wow… can't believe you actually helped out Rigby! I'm astonished! Well, first time for anything I guess."

Rigby punched the bird's knee at his comment (barely hurting him) while Mordecai laughed to himself. Jeremy wanted to join into the conversation as he laughed along… awkwardly. Mordecai took notice of Jeremy's weird laugh and scratched his head after calming his own laughter down. Rigby only shoved his hands under his arms as he looked around the isle for a moment.

"Hey, where did Strip go? That's not cool that he didn't say bye to me!"

Mordecai looked upon his friend, who was sort of irritated, and then at Jeremy; a few feet away from the two. An idea then sprung onto the avian's head as he coughed out loud to clear his voice.

"Uh… he had to leave for some 'special' meeting. Pfft, business people. They aren't as cool as us."

Mordecai acted like he didn't care for Strip as he put a 'cool guy' smug to show how pimp he was as he laid on the book shelf. Rigby, realizing what Mordecai was doing, followed along with the 'acting' and put the same expression as his friend.

"Yeah… yeah… your right… we are… cool…"

**So… what were they doing? Well, they were playing their random and idiotic 'Cool Game'; where they both tend to 'look' and feel 'cool' when one of them start acting like as if they were cool. When they start acting like they were, they have to wait until the person they are acting against walks away from sight. (And… no… the other person isn't supposed to know what's going on). Usually they did this once a week and they only do this when they felt like messing with others for fun (even if it's their friend). More specifically, they played this game when they were bored at the park's house; but everyone they did it with already knew about their stupid game and tend to just walk away.

But now, once again, the two had the chance to test their 'acting' skills and to play against a new person… like Jeremy.

(They weren't trying to be mean or anything, but it was… um… It was one of their 'games' that they liked playing with new people they meet sometimes. He still had to learn a lot about the two.)**

The raccoon and blue jay gleamed at Jeremy with their eyes covered halfway by their eyelids; the nerd was just standing there awkwardly as he examined the two. The parrot tried copying their faces as he realized the sudden change in their personalities; but he failed to do so.

"Um… what's with the looks, gentlemen?"

Rigby raised his nose up a little so it would appear as if he was looking down at the parrot; but he wasn't, just since the parrot was a little taller than the raccoon.

"We're being… cool; a trait not a lot of people have."

"Yeah, dude… you said it."

The two just stood there without another word; looking off in different directions which made Jeremy all the more uncomfortable. With a rising of his wing, Jeremy peered down at his watch and gazed back at the two 'cool' dudes.

"Um… so… I'm done for today at seven. So… you guys wanna come with me for dinner? My treat, since you men are my humble friends, yes?"

As bad as they wanted, the two 'cool' guys wanted to break out of their acting gig and yell "OOOOOOHH" and high five with each other. But they've been practicing their 'coolness' so much that they wouldn't lose their game that they practice all the time. (Besides, Rigby mentioned that it isn't cool to lose a game like this.) So, the two remained still and 'cool' and they lift their smugs up in an attempt to express a smile… while looking cool.

"Yeah dude… that would be…"

Rigby looked up at Mordecai and shook their heads as if it was cue for both of them to say,

"Cool…"

Jeremy eyed the two and shook his head in acceptance. The nerd paid no mind to it, as much as he wanted to, as his clawed feet slowly patted along the carpet; away from the two 'cool' guys. Mordecai and Rigby totally remained still as they watched the parrot slowly fade from their vision. Mordecai whispered under his breath,

"Wait for it… wait for it… and… he's gone."

The two immediately slapped fives with each other and yelled,

"OOOOOOOOHHH!"

"Dude, we totally freaked him out!"

"I know! Did you see his face? Priceless…"

"PRICELESS…"

The two uncontrollably shouted out loud,

"**PRICELESS!"**

"**SHHHHHH!"**

The two goof balls hushed themselves quickly as they heard everyone else shushing them. After a pause or so, Mordecai and Rigby gave each other derp faces before whispering to each other,

"OOOOHHH!"

* * *

><p><em>7:06 p.m.<em>

With his employee shirt still on and with a clink to his glasses, Jeremy peered at his two friends as they were getting into the British car; noticing the wind shield being shattered from a golf ball.

"So… should I ask about the…"

Rigby gave him a look as if he was saying 'don't talk about it' through his face. Jeremy got the cue as he clipped his beak shut and stared upon the other blue jay; him fixing his mirrors and turning the key to start the engine. With a 'put put' from underneath their front hood of the car, the three started heading down the road with no certain direction. The sun was slowly fading near the horizon as it light gave the sky an orange-i-ness glow while soft winds blew amongst the car. It was quite a sight to see; even though the buildings mainly blocked the three spectators who stopped at another red stoplight. Mordecai tapped his feathery fingers on the wheel as he turned his head over to look at Rigby and Jeremy.

"So Jeremy, where did you want to go? I heard that there's a country steak house over a couple of blocks from here."

Before Jeremy could answer, the raccoon held both his hands up in protest.

"NO, LET'S GO to CHEEZER's… or Burger Queen! Or – or Dairy King!"

Mordecai shook his head and looked upon Jeremy; the parrot sitting as if he was very uncomfortable.

"You can choose dude, Rigby just likes fast food a lot…. And Grilled Cheese."

Rigby's brows went down and crossed his arms. Jeremy just shrugged and clinked his glasses again.

"I really don't care actu-"

"HEY! Mordecai, you also like Fast Food too! AND GRILLED CHEESE!"

Jeremy closed his shy beaks as he saw how ticked Rigby toward the blue jay. With a small pause after Rigby's accusation, Mordecai rolled his eyes and smiled at his secret crush.

"Yeah, but not as much as you do."

Rigby, with a scoff and a "pfft", sat his butt back down and held his finger under his chin as he got a sudden (and weird) thought.

"You know, could Burger Queen and Dairy King get like… married?"

Jeremy held his finger right between the other two as he cut himself a path into the conversation.

"Well, their kids would be Burger King and Dairy Queen! Am I right? Huh?"

Even though he was trying to be funny/clever, he obviously failed from what he could tell by Rigby's response.

"Really? That's probably the two worst names you can give to children."

Green lights flashed upon his pupils as Mordecai drove forward and then made a left.

"Um… actually Rigby, that doesn't sound that bad. I thought it was sort of clever." The bird peered at his rear view mirror and smiled at Jeremy; who shyly gave a smile back. Rigby looked at the two and then fixed his position back at the seat; his tail flopped while his ears dropped.

"Yeah, whatever. I can think of better names for children if I had to."

With a small sniff as cool wind brushed through his colorful plumage, Jeremy stuck his beak near Rigby.

"Well, if you're so clever, then go and name two, my friend."

"Well… maybe… McBurger… or maybe…"

The blue jay, sitting next to the raccoon, spread out a smug and lowered his eyelids as he chuckled to himself. Rigby noticed the bird's snickering and with a glare back he asked,

"What's so funny , Mordecai? Don't like what I made up?"

Mordecai laughed a little louder as he knew that he couldn't hold it any longer.

"No, haha, but another name you could use is probably… TRASH BOAT!"

Mordecai laughed loudly and pointed at his friend's pissed off face. Rigby just crossed his arms as he remembered the one time that he changed his name to 'Trash Boat' since he wanted a cool name. Rigby lowered his eyelids and pouted to himself while Jeremy poked him in the back.

"Trash Boat? What's that ab-"

Rigby gave the same 'I don't want to talk about it' face and looked the other way. With his laughing continuing within his tone of his voice, the avian patted the pissed off Rigby and said,

"Yeah Jeremy, Rigby just wants me and you to STOP TALKING! OOOOOHH!"

Mordecai continued with his laughter while the other two remained silent; one confused while the other aggravated. It didn't take long until Mordecai pulled up near to a fast food drive-in place known as Cheezer's; it's purple letters shown with a funky style. The fast food's logo was cheese and it's roof was a big model of cut cheese. Cheesy decorations was practically everywhere on the building. With a turn to a right and a pull forward onto the drive-in area, Rigby's eyes lit up at the sight of cheese before he started jumping up and down on his seat as like he was some sort of kangaroo.

"YES! CHEEZER'S!" This apparently has brightened up his mood from before as he smacked fives with a stuttered Jeremy. He then spontaneously sprung his arms around Mordecai's waistline and hugged him tightly!

Mordecai pursed his lips while he pupils grew huge; he could feel the sudden brown fur smoothing along his blue plumage. It felt SO utterly tremendous. Nevertheless, Mordecai's strict and 'straight' emotions got the best of him as he was freaking from the situation of his friend hugging him. It was like his brain was telling him to get the intruder off of himself so that he could protect his 'dark' love interest from ever being noticed.

"RIGBY! D-Dude! L-let GO OF ME!"

Deep apprehension filled up his heart as the raccoon's world and body was shoved back by the blue jay; who of which had his eyes widened with shock and confusion. With the car coming to a halt into the parking spot, the two wallowed toward the edges of their doors and put their arms around the doors and rear view mirrors. They just…. Stared… with no words that rolled off their still tongues. Their mouths were dropped while small wrinkles seem to develop underneath their stagnant eyes. Jeremy cocked his head at how the two reacted over a simple hug; it was… unexpected, like they would be one of those friends who would do that.

"Umm… guys… what's the matt-"

"DUDE, WHY WOULD YOU HUG ME LIKE THAT?"

After Mordecai abrupt Jeremy from speaking (who shyly backed out), Rigby twitched his eyes and gritted his teeth as he unconsciously yelled back.

"Uma… uma… I DON'T KNOW DUDE, J-j JUST FORGET ABO-" ***POW***

Rigby was suddenly cut off as a punch was handed to him at his stomach. Jeremy stared widely at Mordecai as the blue jay brought his arm back from punching his best friend. Rigby moaned to himself while he rubbed his stomach; which wasn't used to being hit since usually his arm soaked all the pain from Mordecai's punches.

"Ooooww dude…. Ugh… That really hurt…" The raccoon slowly got himself up as he brought his brows down while he held his stomach area. A deep feeling of being pissed while he felt frightened from his hug was read through his face.

*Breathes in*… "Dude, I- I'm sorry Mordecai, it was just I was excit-"

"NO DUDE, I… i…"

Mordecai felt his body heat up as he saw how he punched his friend. He felt bad… really bad for Rigby. He thought it over; all that really happened was that his best friend gave him a hug; JUST a hug. And how did he react to it? With freaking out, yelling, and a punch back at his STOMACH? He always punched him at the arms, but he never intended to punch his friend at the stomach.

"I… I don't want to know why you hugged… me… okay?"

Mordecai turned the other way as he held his seldom eyes up; trying to hide his confused and ashamed face. Thoughts swelled up his own messed up mind as his emotions for Rigby played over and over again.

_What… what am I feeling? Why do I hit him every time he touches me like that? Why do I freak out when he touches me? WHY THE HELL did I punch him in the stomach, instead of the arms? GOSH, I'm such an idiot! Am I trying too hard to hide my feelings for him? Am I being too… harsh? How… how does he feel about m- … GAH! STUPID GAY THOUGHTS!_

Mordecai continued to look the other way as his tears, which were standing on his eyes, quickly went back deep into his eyes. With his head turning back, the disappointed-in-himself bird sighed as he only looked down at his lap; trying to avoid eye contact with the raccoon who was still rubbing his stomach.

*sighs* "I'm sorry dude. I meant to punch you really… at the arms and all but… I got out of hand and wasn't thinking clearly when you hugged me."

Rigby felt like apologizing back. But… all of a sudden… some sort of anger stirred inside of him as he gritted his teeth. Usually he would automatically forgive Mordecai when he got punched in the arm. But at this moment… at this time, he felt like releasing this unheard-of frustration of him being punched and mistreated all the time; especially the fact that he was abused by his stomach… over a hug… a HUG!

"You know what? I don't get it, Mordecai. Why do you punch me every time I do something to you, rather it's nice or bad?"

Mordecai widened his eyes a little as he looked up at Rigby. The raccoon looked as if he was a prosecutor in some court case; ready to figure out the truth from the culprit.

"Huh… I don't know what you mea-"

"You know EXACTLY what I mean! Every TIME! Every time I try to make you feel better, through jokes or helping you out… o-or just being there for you, you ALWAYS find a way to repay me by just… by just punching me!"

Mordecai's pupils shrunk even smaller as he pursed his lips; as if he was caught for something he didn't mean to do.

"I-I-I…"

"SPIT IT OUT, MORDECAI! WHY do you punch ME?"

Rigby put his arms over one another as he waited for Mordecai's confession. The bird quickly began to sweat as he wanted to keep his true meaning of why he punched his secret crush all the time.

"Rigby, I… It's a way that I express a feeling for you… I mean… it's a way when I want to show respect to you or when I'm pissed at you for doing something stupid! Aren't you use to it by now? Like I do it to you ALL the time! I don't do it just to diss you! I…"

"NO, WAIT A SECOND!" Rigby chuckled out loud before he brought his pissed face back together again.

"I'm guessing that you plan on respecting Margaret by punching her too? Or even when she'll piss you off, right? … RIGHT?"

Rigby got closer to Mordecai as he stood from his car seat and stared coldly at Mordecai's eyes. He felt like adding Margaret into the conversation just so he could roughen up Mordecai at his 'soft' spots. As for Mordecai, the bird clenched his fists and scooted his body a little closer to the raccoon; he also stiffened up and made himself appear bigger. His teeth clenched tightly against each other as he couldn't believe Rigby was talking about his girlfriend right now.

"HEY, FIRST OF ALL, LAY OFF! Don't you DARE think that I would hurt her! SHE doesn't deserve to be punched because she's my girlfriend! I would NEVER mistreat her like that!"

"THEN WHY do I get punched instead? WHY am I MISTREATED? You know that I don't 'DESERVE' to be **Punched**… **Right?"**

**"YEAH… YOU DO!"**

Rigby's body twitched from the sound of this; those three words seemed to tear up the argument between the two. Mordecai and Rigby stared at each other as their eyes seemed like they were going at war between one another. It was dead silent in the area while the two continued their harsh staring. After an awkward moment passed, Rigby's lips began to tremble as he slowly turned down his glance; away from the angered bird. Mordecai watched as he saw his best friend look the other way with his hands at his stomach; his slouched back showing the only sign of his saddened friend. The blue jay felt ticked off as he swiftly turned his body. He then slammed his elbow on top of his door as he tried to release the anger that belled up inside of him. He had this stern/pissed off face as he stared vaguely at the far-away buildings. Not a single word was spoken as the awkward/controversial situation seemed to die down; but the emotions and thoughts seemed to only worsen within the two.

At the back seat of the British car, the third and forgotten parrot just sat there while he switched his vision of sight between the bird and the raccoon; only getting a view of their backs and the sides of their faces, one sad and one mad.

Left, mad, right, sad, left, mad, right, sad, left, mad, right…

That's all the parrot could do and think as he kept flipping his head. He was really surprised on how the two behaved in front of him. Did they always fight like this? Were they really acting like… themselves?

Jeremy shifted his feathers on his arm as he slowly spoke from the silence.

"Ummm… do you guys want to… ummm… go…"

Jeremy stopped his wording when he saw Mordecai shifting in his seat and opening the door. The avian scooted out without looking back at Rigby and slammed his door. The parrot raised his brows on the fact that the windshield didn't shatter from the closing of the door; and with a scoot and open, the parrot calmly got out of the car. Jeremy then shifted his glance to Rigby, who was still sitting like he was some statue that represented depression.

"Ummm, Rigby. You comin-"

"No…" Was all the raccoon said as he didn't move an inch from his position.

Mordecai turned his body around and gazed at the immature and furry back of the raccoon. Some wind blew against the three as Mordecai shook his head and glanced at Jeremy.

"Dude, can you just stay here for a second. I'm going to order our sandwiches and save some seats. Can you watch him until he's ready to feel better?"

"Umm, ok."

Mordecai gave a look back at his sad friend before shifting his feet and heading toward Cheezer's. Jeremy watched as the avian had a disappointed grimace before he went inside the building.

With a sigh and a rub to his beak, Jeremy opened the driver's door and put himself back inside. With an occasional glance at the shattered windshield, the parrot mainly stared at Rigby's back while he fiddled with his feathery fingers. He felt like he should have said something at the moment; hoping to cheer Rigby from his terrible mood. So with a cough and a look around the sunset sky, the parrot poked Rigby's arm randomly.

"So, … umm… you feeling better?"

Rigby, for the first time since the time the argument ended, swayed his arm away but stayed in his position. Jeremy shrugged to himself and thought,

_Well, it's a start. _

"You want to… talk about it? Scientists say that it's best to expre-"

"Dude… just stop talking to me."

Rigby slowly turned his face forward after staring at the sunset too long. He had these pissed off eyes that only stared forward at what was in front of the car. With only seeing half of his face now, Jeremy could only scratch his head as one of his red feathers fell off. It landed softly on Rigby's leg. Rigby glanced down and stared at it. The red feather only reminded him of Margaret; how lucky she was to have Mordecai really for herself. Why couldn't Mordecai respect him the way he wanted to be? Why can't he… love him like he loves Margaret? Some tears swept down from his orbital as Rigby grabbed the feather and squeezed it… hard. Jeremy looked up from his gripping hand and saw a tear fall from Rigby's shaking cheek.

"…Rigby? Are you-" Suddenly, Rigby swooshed around and threw his hands up at the bird.

"STOP… talking."

Rigby calmed his temper as he immediately rubbed his eyes hard and scooted himself out of the car. Jeremy sat there for a brief moment, seeing the feather that Rigby had just threw up falling down (all crinkled up), before he too got out and stood near Rigby; just that he purposely gave the raccoon some space. Rigby could only grimace at Jeremy before heading his way to Cheezer's. Jeremy just stood there, speechless and confused as hell. He only had one thought that came to mind before following behind the saddened raccoon.

_This is going to be one long night…_

* * *

><p><em>About 5 hours earlier on the same day…<em>

"Come on Fives, throw these barbecue bones away and let's get going. Sheesh."

With a final lick to his vile fingers, Muscleman handed some leftover bones to Fives and got himself off the bench; his fat rolling off as he pushed himself forward. Fives floated quickly to the nearest trash can and threw the bones in. He didn't complain though, it was another random favor he didn't mind doing for his sloppy friend. With a quick dash forward, the ghost was able to catch up to Muscleman as they scurried through the park; the gentle leaves being blown amongst the trees and ground.

"Muscleman, remind me again, where we're going?"

"Hold on Fives, you'll see…"

With the park's house in sight, the zombie snickered as the both of them went up the wooden stairs and across the creaky wooden floor. With Fives peaking over his friend's back, Muscleman pushed the park house's door wide open and looked around the area. No one was in sight at the moment.

_Perfect…_

"Come on!"

Fives floated near Mitch as the both of them went up a flight of stairs to the second level. Before Fives could float down the hallway, Muscleman put his hand up like he was in some army drill; trying to infiltrate a base.

"Muscleman, what's the bi-"

Five's lips were pinched from some unclipped fingernails as Muscleman took the time to scan the scene. Mitch quickly let go of his friend's lip and pointed straight at Mordecai and Rigby's room. Without another word or gesture, Muscleman scooted all the way along the way and stopped at the doorway; Fives just floated normally near his zombie friend, thinking that Mitch's antics right now were weird and unneeded. Muscleman took a peek inside the room and immediately jumped in and slammed the door behind him. Fives, being the ghost he is, went on through the solid wall and floated by Muscleman. The two looked around; seeing all the clothes that have been thrown around and the digital clock that sat near a window. It read 3:08 p.m. Fives changed his glance to Muscleman and sighed.

"Muscleman, you know were not allowed to be in here without permission. Besides, why are we in here in the first place?"

Muscleman waved his hand at Fives and scoffed out loud.

"Because, I wanna find evidence to prove that Rigby's gay, alright!"

The zombie snickered at the thought of Rigby being called out while he runs away. That would be the Ultimate Prank! Fives only lowered his eye holes and grimaced.

"Muscleman, first off, how are you going to 'show off' Rigby that he's gay? It's not like you're going to just randomly tell people or have some random convention."

Mitch began his search amongst the room; looking through clothes and such near Rigby's trampoline.

"Well isn't it obvious? I'm going to find evidence and prove he's gay at his own… birthday party! WHOOOOO!"

Muscleman got into one of the piles of clothes that were lying about and ruffled clothes left and right. Fives rolled his eyes (if he could) and looked near Mordecai's stuff; just scanning it and not touching anything.

"Mitch, you might be going too far on the whole pranking thing. Weren't we just going to tell Rigby that we knew his secret so that he would have to do our bidding or we would have told? That sounds a little bit fairer than just scarring his life on his bir-"

"PSSHHH, Fives, do you remember what he did to my face this morning?"

Fives glanced at Muscleman's face as it barely showed any bruises on it whatsoever.

"Ummm, Muscleman, it's a little much to get back at him in this type of way."

"WELL I DON'T CARE! NOW HELP ME OUT!"

Muscleman threw some clothes up and around him as he jumped into another pile of clothes. Fives wondered left and right while he scanned Mordecai's bed and what was underneath it. He couldn't help but snicker when he found some playboy magazines underneath the bed and looked through some of them. It featured some hot women, human or not, in cute and sexy poses; naked or almost naked.

_This is too funny…_

Fives gently put the magazines back and continues moving around the bed. His goal was to really let Muscleman look at Rigby's stuff while he tried to avoid looking at the gay raccoon's stuff. He just felt… guilty for uncovering his secret to Muscleman, since that night when he snuck into Spaghatti's and spied on Rigby and Eileen for fun (since he was SO bored and wanted to see if Rigby would've screwed up on his dating life). He would have never guessed what would have happened next during that date experience. Being behind the curtains in Eileen's old room, Rigby confesses about him being gay, his Blowout speech, and both of them crying. And now… he just wished that he never told Muscleman about it.

"Hey Fives, you find anything over there?"

"Umm, no. You?"

Fives peered through underneath the bed as he saw Muscleman looking underneath Rigby's bed.

"Nah, just some gum wrappers and such. We'll keep looking. Keep an eye at the door."

Muscleman then went over to one of Rigby's drools and opened the top one to look through it. Fives shrugged with his one arm and floated through Mordecai's bed; seeing the mattress, bracelet, springs and cotton going through him… wait a second.

_Bracelet?_

Fives turned his ghostly body down at the bed that he was floating above and went through it again; this time only stopping in between the mattress and the bottom of the bed with its springs and metal. He looked to the left and only saw more springs and cotton/mattress. But when he looked to his right, he saw the same things except for… the bracelet. A rainbow colored bracelet with the words 'CHOM' on it. Fives' eye holes got huger as his mouth dropped.

_Why… is this hidden under his mattress? Un-Unless… OH MY Go-_

"HEY FIVES? Where d'you go bro?"

"Ugh… Nothing Muscleman."

Fives immediately removed his body from the bed as he quickly floated near Muscleman. Muscleman looked over his shoulder to see his friend floating by him, like as nothing has happened to him that has changed his mind-set about another person.

"Um… cool then, I'm gonna go check Mordecai's bed for anything while you look-"

"NO… I mean, give me a second."

Fives zoomed past Muscleman and into the bed; where he quickly snatched the rainbow bracelet and pushed it across the mattress. He then pulled it out and hid it behind his back while on the other side of the bed, Muscleman was walking over and pulling the mattress up without second thinking.

"What's the big deal Fives? Wait… oh I see!" Muscleman sat the mattress down as he looked under the bed for clues. While doing so, Fives looked behind his back to see that he was holding the bracelet. But then he realized that his body can be seen through. If Muscleman looked at him, he would see the bracelet clearly.

_Oh SHOOT! Where to hide it, where to hide it! I don't want him suspecting that there's a chance that Mordecai is gay too… or he's bi! Mordecai doesn't deserve being pranked in this way of manner either! _

Fives, spazzing out on where to get rid of the bracelet, quickly threw it near Rigby's trampoline and floated to Muscleman's side, who of which had found some of Mordecai's playboy magazines and without knowing what Fives just did.

"Heh Heh! Mordecai's been 'Playing Around'! HAHAHA!"

Muscleman then put them back underneath the bed, in a sloppy way, and then walked over to Rigby's area again. Fives nervously floated by until Muscleman's eyes widened.

"WHA- OH MY GOSH!"

Muscleman spotted the colorful bracelet, which was on top of a hill of clothes. It seemed to shimmer in Muscleman's perspective as he got it and held it in front of Fives; the ghost just nervously smiled back at his friend's capture. Muscleman took notice of the word 'CHOM' on it, yet he didn't care what it was; he was just excited to be able to bust Rigby for what he was (and now with 'actual' proof).

"Rigby has a FAGGOT BRACELET! HAHAHA! I can't believe I didn't see this before!"

Muscleman fell on his back as he laughed around with the bracelet. But Fives could only brace himself as he watched Muscleman roll right over the legs and side of the Rigby's trampoline; breaking the bars from his unbearable weight.

"MUSCLEMAN, NO! LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

Muscleman noticed what he did and stood up; brushing his own sides and shoulders.

"Pssh, so what? It's just a trampoline."

Fives slapped his face as he looked back at his friend, ashamed.

"Muscleman, that's where Rigby sleeps! You know what will happen if Rigby found out?"

Muscleman rolled his eyes while he held onto the gay bracelet.

"Sheesh, fine. Help me fix it."

The two tried their best to bend the bars and re-connect the pieces, but to their avail, the trampoline looked crooked and broken still.

"Ugh, Muscleman, how are we going to fix this?"

"HOLD ON MAN! Let my genius brain of mine think!"

Muscleman pondered for a while, scanning the trampoline as a screw fell off it.

*Snaps* "GOT IT! We'll just make Rigby think that he broke it!"

Fives raised a brow as Muscleman puffed his chest out; confident that nothing will go wrong for him.

"What?"

"Look, we'll turn this trampoline around to show it's good side, and then when Rigby lays on it, it will break! Just… just trust me Fives."

Fives could only but a disappointed face on as he watched Muscleman turn the trampoline around to show it's good side; it looked right and good at an angle. After looking at it for a good second, Fives changed his face to a surprised expression. It looked… ok.

"Actually… this could work!"

"Yeah… You know who else breaks trampolines? MY MOM!"

Suddenly from afar, a quirky and silly British voice was heard from downstairs that seemed to have made Fives and Muscleman's back break from shock.

"HELLO? FRIENDS?"

Footsteps were heard as the two culprits turned their heads around their shoulders and stared at the doorway. They both reacted quickly by bursting toward the door way. But to their demise, Pops popped right in front of them; all happy and excited to see the two.

"OH HELLO Fives and Muscleman! Jolly day to be living, right?"

Muscleman and Fives nervously smiled at weach to other and then back at Pops; the zombie slipped the colorful bracelet at his back pocket and tucked inside.

"Oh Hey Pops! Um… we gotta get goi-"

"Ooooh, what were you guys doing in here?" He giggled a little as he brought his small hands to his mouth; waiting for an answer. Fives looked over at Muscleman with a sudden frown. Muscleman's forehead started to produce out of its skin while ideas of his 'reason' popped inside his head.

"Oh, nothing much, just checking if Mordecai and Rigby were around. We wanted to play a board game with them… you know, for good ol' times!"

Fives phew to the side as Pops giggled even more towards Muscleman.

"Well, as you might not know, Mordecai and Rigby are on their dates with their girlfriends. They won't be back until tonight! But can I play a game with you two? We can play RISK!"

Muscleman and Fives both raised their eyebrow from Pop's game choice. Risk can last FOREVER if it wanted to. Before they could protest, Pops 'YAYED' in laughter as he grabbed both of them and ran down the stairs; the two dudes noticing how strong Pop's grip was since he was a past time wrestler back in his young days.

"WERE GOING TO HAVE SO MUCH FUN!"

Before long, the three ended up in the living room as Pops had already laid the board and pieces out. Muscleman and Fives looked at each other and shrugged; they really had nothing else better to do than go and throw chewed gum at random people. Besides, they had already completed their top secret mission.

* * *

><p><strong>So, short chapter for many reasons... 1. Been Extrmely and it is difficult to work and clean and take care of siblings with an additional two step-siblings (long story but my Dad has recently got a girlfriend who had... additional children and... yeah...). <strong>

** Night to where the next chapter was supposed to show a cute scene between the two cuties xD Plus what happens when they get back to the park ;) **

**Hopefully you read the note at the top! I'm purposely mixing their emotions into the story and the confliction between Rigby and Mordecai. I never expected this story to get complicated, but I'm trying to dumb it down a little (unless you wanna read a complicated story, just comment if so.)**

**Hopefully I didn't make anyone sad from the delay or the fact that this is short chapter. :( I'm trying to write this but give me time as always. Been also busy on FA (Furaffinity) where I show a lot of my artwork. If you're interested to see weird porn and such, send me a note. If not, I advise you shouldn't look it up if you're younger than 18 or you don't want to see 'different' fetishes 0_0 That's all I am saying :)**

**Thank You for reading so far, and the next chapter will be longer, just that I wanna make it good, not rushed :D And COMMENT! **


	10. Chapter 10: Forgive, Forget, Fortold

_Back to the present, around 7:48 p.m._

With a forceful and direct push on the glass doors, the seldom and annoyed Rigby walked on into the restaurant. Jeremy, only a few meters behind, prepared himself as he held his hands up right when the glass doors quickly closed back on his beak with a SMACK! His eyes and glasses seemed to spin for a brief moment before he pushed open the doors and walked on in. Rigby, of course, didn't recognize Jeremy's crooked beak and messed up glasses as he was distracted by a cheerful greeting.

"Welcome to Cheezer's!"

There, standing about forty meters away and behind a cheese-decorated counter was a young employee with a plain white shirt and wearing a purple visor. A brown pony tail could be seen behind the cheerful girl's head while her freckles showed upon her cheeks. Rigby looked to his left and right, ignoring the employee, and saw Mordecai far off in one of the purple, 4-person booths. Mordecai looked over at Rigby for a brief moment and then stared right back at his phone (acting like he was doing something earlier on it.) Rigby grunted as he shifted his body and tail and walked along the white floor that seemed to gleam with cleanliness. Jeremy, though, noticed the employee's nice greeting, waved to her cheerfully, and then followed behind Rigby.

The two short ones walked on up and stood near the table; Mordecai taking note of their presence while he still looked through his phone. Rigby glared at his best friend while he held his hands out to let Jeremy know to scoot on in the booth. Jeremy smiled nervously at Rigby's gesture before he quickly scooted his way in. Rigby then jumped on up onto his seat and flicked his tail behind his butt. The booth's seats seemed to squeak loudly before all three of the men sat still. Only a few clinking noise and beeps could be heard from Mordecai playing with his phone while Rigby continued to glare at him; he was still pissed at what Mordecai said earlier. The raccoon wanted to talk more about it, but he felt empty and lost in his feelings of a conflict between grief and love. Does he want to piss Mordecai off more or just find common ground with his one true love?

Meanwhile, Jeremy felt really awkward sitting there while he looked around the restaurant and fiddled with his thumbs. Only a couple of people were there, no one really stood out in the crowd. Background music based on the early 2000's and late 90's played while little conversations were carried throughout the place. With a yawn and a few more fiddles with his feathery fingers, Jeremy looked upon Mordecai while trying to ignore Rigby's seldom staring at the same bird.

"So… you already ordered our food?"

Mordecai looked up from his phone while he gave a small smile. He seemed a little bit cheered up; his eyes seemed to glow for a moment.

_At least Jeremy wasn't so mad at me._

"Yeah dude, we usually get the 3# combo, the grilled cheese deluxe. I just got you the same thing. So, I got you guys covered."

Jeremy snickered a little while he pointed back at Mordecai.

"No sir, I got you covered! Remember, I'm paying!"

"Oh YEAAH! OOOOOOOHHH!" Mordecai yelled out at the top of his voice with his usual cheer. Rigby blinked out of it as he heard Mordecai's cheer; it's pitch and volume seemed to be calling him to join into the chant. Yet he remained silent and looked at his own lap. Mordecai saw Rigby's reaction to his cheer and was surprised that he didn't shout with him. But his reasoning and yelling was short lived when he heard Jeremy trying to join into the cheer.

"OOHwhoaOOHHHwhoaOOOHH!"

It was very obvious that Jeremy killed the cheer as Mordecai died down his voice. Jeremy broke a sweat and blushed hard; sheepishly rubbing the back of his head as he realized what he did.

"Ummm… sorry gu-"

"Nah dude, it's no big deal. You'll get the hang of it."

Mordecai smiled and winked back at Jeremy as the parrot could only shrug. But as for Rigby, the raccoon scoffed and rolled his eyes; his 'staring at his friend' mode going away. He was getting annoyed that Jeremy and Mordecai were in a better mood than he was. And Rigby felt just a 'little jealous.'

"Pssh, please. It will take him FOREVER to get as good as we can, right Mordecai?" Rigby scoffed and laughed to himself while Mordecai gave a disappointed look towards the boastful raccoon. Jeremy looked around the area while he tried to ignore the raccoon's laughs and mocking. Rigby noticed Mordecai's pissed off face while he looked to his left to see Jeremy avoiding eye contact with him. His laughing died down as he put his arms over one another.

"Oh Come On Guys! You know that was funny! You guys just… won't admit it!"

Mordecai rolled his eyes as he tapped his fingers on the table.

"Ugh, Rigby. Dude… come on! That was straightly cruel and rude… dude. You should apologize."

Mordecai rolled the back of his neck and crooked his head back towards his phone; typing on random buttons once again. Rigby held his hands up in a 'What The Fuck' gesture. Yet he uttered nothing as he fell silent… and pissed again. Jeremy whistled a sour note at Rigby's fail and looked at a random picture of cheese on the wall. Rigby looked over and poked the parrot hard; trying to get his attention which he felt he at least deserved.

"Ugh, Fine! Hey Jeremy, I'm sorry, k? Yeesh…"

Jeremy ignored it and continued to stare off; knowing that Rigby was only doing that to make Mordecai feel better. Rigby hated to be ignored; especially when he said he was sorry for something. His hands clenched tightly while his teeth squeezed harder on each other. He redundantly poked the parrot again… and again… and again, and again, and again. Mordecai looked up from his phone to see Rigby poking frantically at Jeremy's arm as if the raccoon was stuck in an elevator that wasn't working properly.

"RIGBY? Stop doing that dude! You don't have to abuse him like that!"

Mordecai dropped his phone and reached over the table. He grabbed hold of Rigby's hands before Rigby pushed Mordecai off of him and began a small kiddy fight with his friend; slapping hands and arms which were hitting upon each other. Jeremy looked over his shoulder and stared at the two dudes fighting, as if they were a couple of natty girls. Rigby and Mordecai had their faces turned away, eyes closed and their arms and hands up slapping one another. Rigby yelled out,

"STOP HITTING ME!"

"WELL STOP HITTING ME DUDE!"

"NO, YOU!"

"OH YEAH?"

"YEAAHH!"

The both of them got on their knees as they got closer into the combat; their bodies on top of the table, rocking it back and forth a little. But the closer they got to each other, the more they made squeaking noises from their seats. The squeaks clearly sounded sharp, but with a 'fart' reference that ranged into the imaginary mind of the raccoon and blue avian. Mordecai was the first to hear the noises as he immediately stopped his slapping and looked down at his knees.

"HOLD ON DUDE… *he moves his knee and makes a squeak*… Hehehe, You hear that?"

Rigby held his hands up as he tested the seat with pressing his knee on it.

*SQUEAK*

"Dude… it sounds like we're…"

Mordecai grimaced a small grin as he snickered and copied what Rigby did.

*Squeak, Squeak*

Rigby and Mordecai couldn't help but both put on their derp faces; both having the same idea. They continued to smack each other's hands and arms while they pushed their legs against their own seats.

*Squeak Smack Smack Squeak Squeak Squeak Smack Squeak*

"hehehehe…"

"hehehehe…"

They snickered in unison and continued their silly little 'fight' as Jeremy stared in awe at their behavior.

_Ummm… is this how they… get along?_

But during the middle of Jeremy's thoughts and in the middle of the two dude's little conflict, a male employee with a blond, mini goatee walked up with the food that they ordered and watched the two dudes fight like sissies. The employee had a deep and boring voice as he spoke with no enthusiasm.

"Ummm… your food is… here."

Mordecai and Rigby stopped in the middle of their hissy fight and immediately stared widely at the dude who was holding their food. The two then sat down and fixed themselves up as if nothing happened. The employee said nothing (eyeing the two random and weird dudes that he has just witnessed in front of him) as he sat the platter with bags of food on top down on their greasy table. He brought out three individual cups and sat them beside the bags before walking away. Mordecai and Rigby held their own arms in shame as they went and grabbed their own bag of grilled cheese and empty cups. Jeremy did the same as he moved the platter into the center of the table. The parrot then went and got drinks for all three of them; filling their cups with ice and cola. He went back and put napkins underneath the cups as he handed the drinks out to Mordecai and Rigby; who noticed and thanked him for being so… clean and organized. It was… uncommon to have a friend like that; well except for Pops. But Pops wasn't This Tidy and OCD about where everything goes.

(If there was one thing to know about Jeremy, it was that he was an organized paranoid; since he spent most of his time at the library or reading series of books… in order.)

After Jeremy scooted on back to his spot, Rigby took his sandwich out of the package and started munching on it without taking his time. Cheese seemed to gush all over his furry face; nevertheless, he did not care how he ate his sandwich. It's his way or the highway.

As for his best friend, Mordecai took his sandwich and ate it like it was going to last a lifetime. But occasionally crumbs and such would sputter from his mouth as he spoke.

"Did you guys see the way he looked at us? He looked so brain dead!"

Rigby and Mordecai laughed a little and smiled at one another. They chewed their sandwiches at their own pace while Jeremy watched the two from his angle. As he took his first bite of the sandwich, he opened his eyes wider. Even though he thought the sandwich was good for a cheese sandwich, he came to a realization as he continued to learn about the two dudes.

_Wait… weren't they just fighting before? How… Why are they getting along like… nothing happened before? Dang… friendship sometimes can be a mystery just waiting to be unraveled by the connection between- _

"Hey Jeremy, you going to eat those fires?"

Jeremy lost his train of thought as he saw Rigby reaching over to snatch a few of his own fries. Jeremy did not care though as he waved his hand in acceptance and took another bite of his own cheesy and greasy sandwich. He coughed a little as he glanced at Rigby who was scoffing down the fries he had just earned.

The three ate for awhile in silence; mainly due to the fact that there wasn't much to talk about. Mordecai still fiddled with his phone, Rigby continued to eat more food like a mad man, and Jeremy was still puzzled at how earlier expressions and situations seemed to cease between the raccoon and blue jay.

_How could they act like nothing happened before? Do they just argue randomly and then get over it simply? Do they act like some sort of… couple… no, nah, that's silly talk!_

The parrot just felt like saying things out that came to mind. But his 'shy' side seemed to be the only thing that kept him quiet.

A few minutes passed and only Rigby was eating the leftovers from Mordecai and Jeremy; the both just waiting patiently for the raccoon to finish. While Rigby was finishing off another sandwich, Mordecai snickered a little and tapped on his phone before pressing the 'send' button on it. With a final slurp to his soda, Jeremy glanced over at Mordecai and saw the bird smile from cheek to cheek.

"Mordecai, what's up?"

Rigby put a halt into the middle of his meal and looked up at Mordecai. The blue jay clipped his phone and slouched back on his seat as if he was king of the world.

"Guess who got another date tomorrow? WHOOOOOOOOOOHHH!"

The bird waved his arms around and held his beak up proudly while he cheered. Jeremy raised a brow at Mordecai in curiosity. Rigby rolled his eyes quickly but then acted happy for him.

"Awesome Dude! When?"

Mordecai nodded his head in agreement and grimaced a prideful smile.

"Tomorrow. Her and me are going to grab a drink and talk for a bit."

"Cool Dude! With me and Eileen, right?"

An awkward pause came right after Rigby had said that. Mordecai cleared his throat and put his wings together.

"Um… no dude. Actually, she was hoping that her… and me could go together? That's fine with you right?"

Rigby widened his eyes and curled his knees back under the table. He felt like someone dropped a cinder block on his back as the raccoon slouched his back slowly. Mordecai watched the raccoon's excited expression fade slowly to a more seldom-looking expression. The dropping of the raccoon's ears was the final sign of shock and despair that caused Mordecai to start questioning Rigby's change of attitude all of a sudden.

"Rigby? You okay with that, right?"

Jeremy cocked his head to the right as he saw Rigby fix himself up a little and shrugged. The raccoon brushed his shoulder as he talked in a quieter tone.

"Oh, no dude, it's cool! I can always… hang out with Skips… or Pops… or…"

Rigby looked to his left and saw Jeremy looking right back at him; the parrot's eyes and glasses being so close to him. Rigby's brain sparked as he hung his arm right over Jeremy's head and held him tightly.

"I'll just hang out with Jeremy tomorrow! Him and me can bond and all!"

He rethought about it again though as he realized that he was talking about hanging with Jeremy.

_Mmmm… maybe not… that will just be one awkward day…_

"Or… you could be VERY busy… and I TOTALLY understand! All you gotta do is tell us if you are busy. Just say the word and nobody will judge you!"

Rigby turned his gaze from Mordecai to Jeremy and gave him this 'Say Yes to being Busy' glare. Jeremy could barely move his head as he saw the raccoon's nose right in front of his range of sight. Before Jeremy could say anything to Rigby's request, Mordecai cocked his head at the two and scratched his head.

"Or… you can go out with Eileen! I bet that she would love to see you again."

He snickered a little and drank more of his soda while Rigby and Jeremy looked back at each other. Jeremy was a little confused as he shoved the surprised raccoon off him.

"Wait, you mean the mole that works at that coffee shop, right?"

Mordecai sat his cup down and looked at Jeremy.

"Uh, yeah. I think she's like the only mole named Eileen in this town. You know her?"

"Know her?"

Jeremy eyed Rigby as he saw how still the raccoon appeared. But deep inside Rigby's mind was full of worries and nervousness. Jeremy turned his gaze back at Mordecai, who was waiting for some sort of answer.

"I see her every time I go to the coffee shop… like once a week or so. She's so… dreamy and charming. And the way she talks sounds as soothing as the angel's choirs of the heavens above."

Mordecai and even Rigby eyed the parrot weirdly before Mordecai raised his brows higher.

"Wait… do you… like Eileen?"

Jeremy looked around as he lowered his head near the table and blushed a little.

"Yes, I do. It's just… she's so hard to talk to."

The parrot held his red wing over his face to cover his embarrassed face. Mordecai turned his gaze towards Rigby slowly and mouthed,

"Does he know that… you'll dating her?"

Rigby waved his hands horizontally while he shook his head crazily. Mordecai held his hands up while he tried to calm Rigby down a little. They just became friends with this nerd; they didn't want another hater. Rigby quickly calmed down before Jeremy revealed his face from hiding it for a brief moment. Rigby acted happy for the parrot as he patted his back.

"Aw, true love."

Rigby gave Mordecai the 'play along' gesture as Mordecai got the message and gave a 'you're screwed' look back. Rigby ignored his face as he shifted his body the other way, got off his seat and went to refill his soda cup. Mordecai kept snickering at Rigby's predicament as the raccoon walked off for a brief moment. But of course, Jeremy didn't notice the way Mordecai was acting upon Rigby since he was still daydreaming about Eileen.

* * *

><p>*SLURP SLURP*<p>

"Dude! Can you stop drinking so loudly?"

*SLURP* "Oh, sorry… couldn't hear you Mordecai. Dude, COKE RULES!"

Rigby took another drink from his mega sized soda cup and shook it; the ice moved about with the carbonated liquid loudly and annoyingly. Mordecai rolled his eyes and looked behind his car seat to see Jeremy; who gave the same annoyed face back to Mordecai. They were thinking the same thing.

_Don't give into Rigby's begging. It's so not worth it._

The blue jay twisted his head and drove forward after the stoplight went green. The sun was practically out of sight as the streetlights mainly brightened the road. The calm and cool wind blew around the shattered windshield and the plumage/fur of the three males. They were on their way to dropping Jeremy off at his small apartment near Simmons Street. It wasn't really far from where Jeremy worked at but it was a good distance from the park.

With his eyes glued forward to the front of the car, Jeremy looked at the time that glowed in small, blue neon lights.

_8:19 p.m. _

The radio played some old 90's classics that seemed to set the perfect background music of the three's trip to Jeremy's house. But there were the occasional slurping from Rigby that killed the feeling of a good night ride.

A quarter of an hour passed before Mordecai turned into a drive way and parked the British car near the entrance of where all the local apartments were at. The sign that hung at the main office building of the area read 'Peak Forest'; the font in a special cursive writing that seemed to have come from a French artist. The buildings that lined up near each other were about three stories high and looked like they stored about twenty apartments each. The bricks were painted in a light green while the roofs were in a dark brown. It was hard to tell much details of the buildings since it was getting dark outside, but the tall and moss covered trees was enough to tell about the poor conditions of the apartments were.

Mordecai and Rigby turned their heads at the dark buildings and felt… nervous. Rigby slurped the last of his drink while his wide and shocked eyes scanned the area. The apartments just looked very unkempt and untidy; anyone could tell about this even at night.

Jeremy smiled at the apartment buildings and gathered his belongings and checked his pockets.

"I want to thank you guys for driving me home! I really do admire how kind you two are."

With the two looking over their shoulders and with a upright curves on their lips, Mordecai and Rigby both waved their hands and 'pfft' as they acted like it was no big deal. Rigby sat his empty cup in the cup holder and held his hand up ready for a fist bump. Jeremy looked at it and then quickly realized what to do. Instead of fist bumping it right back, Jeremy went for it and practically slammed his knuckles right at the raccoon's knuckles.

"aaaAAAHHHH! JEREMY!"

Mordecai raised both eyebrows and took Rigby's arm and rubbed it close for a moment while trying not to laugh at Jeremy's fail. Rigby whimpered a little but couldn't help but blush softly as he felt the bird's care of his hand. As for Jeremy, the parrot freaked out and started apologizing like crazy in front of Rigby; the apologizing only making the situation worse.

"I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry…"

Rigby gritted his teeth and pulled back his hand from Mordecai's grasp. Mordecai watched as the raccoon checked his hand and tested some stretches before nodding that it was fine. Jeremy shutted up and sigh with relief.

"Thank Goodness you're alright. I'm so Sorr-"

"Zip… It's fine dude."

Jeremy smiled and scooted himself out of the car before closing it behind him. He stood near to the outside side of Rigby's door and patted the car.

"I hope you get to feeling better Rigby. I'm… I'm really busy tomorrow actually, but if there's a chance, I would like to hang out with you tomorrow!"

Jeremy smiled nervously while his face pushed forward to obscure Rigby's vision of the dark background; his glasses seeming to dilate his eyes while his beak jotted out and down at a slight angle. Rigby shrugged with a lack of care, got a notebook and pen out from the car's front pocket, wrote his phone number on it and then ripped the paper out.

"Here you go… Call me anytime, and we can So do something cool. So… yeah…"

After Rigby told him his own phone number, Jeremy brought out his hand and Rigby shook on it lazily. The blue jay and the raccoon said their farewells to Jeremy, stared nervously at how the apartments looked, and then drove off into the night.

* * *

><p>His lamplight came on with a flick from his feathery fingers, illuminating a room full of posters with science gears and famous philosophers, as the nerdy parrot lied down on his green bed. It was a long and hard working day for him but it was all worth it at the end. He was just so happy to have really met those two. He grinned to himself and thought of if he should want to hang out with Rigby tomorrow.<p>

_Hmmm… I'm not really busy tomorrow… But I told him I was… so maybe… You know what… I'll call! Yeah, that's what I'll do! It's like Shakespeare saying: Thy friendships make us fresh!_

He smiled from cheek to cheek as the thought just seemed to be more of a reality for him. He was just so content that he can finally believe in a friend and not have to worry about them breaking his feelings. In short, all his life he tried making friends and being loyal to his friends. But all of them would talk behind his back of how weird he acted or just make fun of him. He just hoped for the best that Rigby and Mordecai wouldn't be like that.

He just wanted a true friend… a true and honest friend.

(And of course a chance to spend time with Eileen, but we already get the idea.)

He turned his head around and laid on his chest. He just laid there, still thinking about today and what he did. There was one thing that was still bothering him. How did Mordecai and Rigby get along so quickly after their little argument? Was it just the way things were between the two? Is that how some true friendships work? Do they somehow get along no matter what occurs between the two? The parrot just couldn't get a good explanation about the two dude's friendships. He decided not to really think about it; but to study of how he could be friends with someone like that.

He shrugged to himself and curled a smile upon his beak. Jeremy got up from his bed and went over to his small shelf, full of books with all of the ideas and quotes from Shakespeare. He pulled out a red book with gold linings and opened it. With a jump back on his bed, Jeremy quietly started reading one of his favorite poems, Sonnet 33.

_(hint, hint...)_

* * *

><p>… <em>tap<em>… _tap_… _tap_…

The blue avian continued to tap the steering wheel before looking down at the quiet and still raccoon.

"So… are you really going to hang out with him tomorrow, or are you just bullshitting him?"

Rigby rolled his eyes and stared up at the red stoplight.

"Eh… maybe. It depends on how I feel tomorrow."

"And should we go and tell Pops of what happened to the windshield in front of us?"

"Hmmm… Nah. He'll probably never know. He doesn't even drive it much. I don't feel like being honest right now. Maybe... maybe later."

Mordecai shook his head in a way of saying 'Wow, Really?' before turning the radio dial to find a station that has music instead of talk shows. Some good 80's music came on with it's fashionable beats and small bass sounds that help made Rigby and Mordecai nod their heads to it. Then they uncontrollably sang with it loudly; some other drivers spotted the two waving and singing loudly and proudly.

"THIS BEAT IS… THIS BEAT IS… THIS BEAT IS TECHNO-TRONIC!"

"**OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!"**

They 'party hardy' all the way back to the park; not caring on how they were going to explain to Pops of what happened to the windshield. In fact, the music was so much fun to dance to that Mordecai and Rigby simply forgot about the shattered windshield; which was still in contact while holding the golf ball on it.

The wheels kept firm on the dirt covered path before they came to an abrupt stop. With a turn the keys and laughter, the two best friends simply jumped right out of the car and high fived each other.

They walked up the old stairs and got the hidden key to unlock the front door. With a push straight forward on the door, Mordecai and Rigby entered and closed the door behind them. They noticed a few changes to the room: the couch sort of messed up, some of the lights were off and a board game that identified as Risk had it's pieces all over the ground. The two looked at each other and shrugged before walking up the stairs. Running water and silly singing could be heard from the bathroom as the two got into the hallway. They knew it was Pops in there, but they didn't want to disrupt Pops from his shower. (Especially of what happened last time when Mordecai mistakenly saw Pops in the shower… 'old' did not look good at all for him, even if they are either gender.)

"LA LA Lee LOOOUU LA… Hehehe!"

Rigby snickered at Pops noises before Mordecai pushed the immature raccoon forward to the room. Rigby moaned a little before running up ahead. With a quick turn into the room and his trampoline in sight, Rigby grinned excitedly as he prepared himself for an ultimate jump.

"1… 2… THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-"

Mordecai just walked into the room before seeing his raccoon friend jump, did a quick 360°, and prepared himself for the trampoline. Mordecai cheered him on quickly by rotating his fists.

"YEEAAA-"

***CRASH CLANG CLATTER THUD***

**...**

From where Rigby had jumped, the trampoline was broken apart as metal clanged amongst the ground and pushed against Rigby's body from the impact. (Slow Motion) Mordecai's eyes became filled with horror as he watched his raccoon friend landed and slam. A metal bar rolled from the scene and stopped right at the bird's stiff yet shaking foot.

(Gasp)** "Oh My God! RIGBY?"**

Without another word, the frightened and shocked blue jay ran over to his friend. Rigby laid among the metal of the broken trampoline as he almost got stabbed by the shards of steel that were poking up from the mess. Mordecai kept his worried eyes on the raccoon as he pushed the metal bars away and slowly flipped the mammal over; feeling his soft fur amongst the bruised up body.

"RIGBY, RIGBY? Speak to me Dude! …**RIGBY?**"

At first Rigby didn't move. Cuts could be seen at his chest, abdominal area and legs; some blood barely seeping out at the moment. It took a few moments of silence before the raccoon moved his body over with a loud moan.

"Uuugh… Mordecai… *(he breathes in, trying to relieve some of the sudden pain)… my trampoline can't handle how awesome I am now."

Mordecai laughed with his dilated pupils showing bright as he couldn't help but rushed and hug him tightly. Even though it was really out of his character, he just felt all emotional at the moment, feeling that one of those metal bars could have stabbed his one lifetime partner.

"OH My God Dude! You gave me half a scare."

His blue plumage brushed softly against brown fur as the two stayed still. Rigby, even though realizing Mordecai's weird reaction, groaned softly from the pain from Mordecai making contact with his cuts/bruises. Nevertheless, Rigby mainly focused on the fact that his secret true love was embracing upon himself for once in his life. So with enduring the pain, the raccoon happily let his blue friend hug him.

For a moment, it seemed like Mordecai's thoughts were filled with satisfaction and relief that his friend was alright. Mordecai nuzzled in closer to Rigby as the heat between the two seemed to engulf them in a radiance of pure happiness. Rigby couldn't help his feelings as he wrapped his bruised arms around the bird and closed his eyes; trying to be careful of not embracing the hug too much. It seemed that nothing else mattered in the world; their troubles and what have just happened seem to fade from their minds.

A minute passed by before the air conditioner turned on loudly; putting the 'touching' mood into a standby as Mordecai widely opened his eyes. His tears immediately went back to his orbital's sockets before he moved Rigby away and looked down at him.

"Ummmm… dude…. Heh heh… Are you alright?"

An embarrassed expression could be seen from the avian's face before settling Rigby back on the ground; who as well quickly readjusted his body like nothing 'heartwarming' had happened.

"Uh… Oh! UGH… OUWIE! My body aches with pain… chhhsnneeee..."

Rigby moaned and breathed in deeply as he felt the pain all over his body while really trying to act like nothing just happened between the two; the cuts and some blood spilling out a little. Mordecai quickly looked at himself to see small blood stains on himself; probably from how close he got while hugging his friend. The avian then looked at the surrounding and saw the bolts, screws, metal bars and the trampoline net all scattered throughout the room; some of it lost within the piles of clothes that laid nearby.

"Come on dude, I'll get you some bandages."

The bird carefully picked up the raccoon and carried him out of the room and down the stairs. Rigby continued to moan as soothed the feathers stealthily on Mordecai's back.

_(Three minutes later...)_

"oooooooough…. Mordecai, Be Careful with Me! OUCH!"

The avian rolled his eyes, annoyed from the raccoon's bickering, as he slapped the bandage around another cut on Rigby's leg. Rigby groaned obnoxiously as he repositioned himself on the living room couch.

"Dude, stop complaining. The pain is all in your head."

"NO, the Pain is All OVER ME!"

"Well, you could only blame yourself really."

Rigby gave him a death glare before pouting. He looked at his body in general at the bird's attempt to cover up his major/minor cuts.

"Pssh… How was I to know that my bed would break like that? Huh?"

Mordecai grabbed another band aid and covered another small scratch on the furry leg.

"Well, maybe… and just maybe… it couldn't handle how much you wei-"

"Habba Bab BaP! NO way are you saying that my weight is the problem!"

Rigby snorted and pinched his only bruised belly; seeing if any fat would stick out. Barely any fat showed itself as Rigby smiled in sweet victory.

"See, barely any fat."

Mordecai snickered as he poked the raccoon's belly; who retaliated since his friend poked a bruise on his belly. Mordecai held his hand back and checked for more bandages on the first aid kit.

"Well… maybe it 'Really couldn't Handle your AWESOMENESS! OOOOOOOOHHH!"

Rigby grimaced a smile before shouting back,

"OOOOOOOOOHHH!"

"YEEEEAAAHH!"

"Well, Hello you Two!"

Mordecai and Rigby stopped their chanting and turned their eyes to the stairs. Pops was standing there in his nice British pajamas; showing off his country's colors. But he still had on his black hat of where a sleeping hat should have been placed at to fit with the rest of the pajamas.

"Oh hey Pops! Check out what happened to Rigby."

Mordecai held his wing up to show off Rigby's many bruises and covered cuts. Rigby rolled his eyes and slumped down to hide some of his own demise. Pops giggled a little and then saw what really happened to the poor raccoon. Pop's tone of voice went lower as he began to worry for him.

"Oh Rigby! What happened?"

Pops got closer to the raccoon as he sat right beside him. Mordecai calmed him down by telling the old man of what happened a few minutes ago. Pops cheered up and was happy that Rigby was better.

"So Pops, Rigby is totally tooken' care of. He'll feel way better tomorrow morning, right Rigby?"

Rigby nodded and smiled for Pops.

"Yeah Pops, everything is going to be just fine after tonight."

Pops giggled his usual giggle and stroked his mustache.

"Ooooh, guess you have to sleep in the same bed with Mordecai, yes?"

With that thought, Rigby's and Mordecai's eyes shot up. Him… sleeping with… him? Mordecai reacted first and shook his wings like he was saying 'no'.

"Hold on Pops, I don't think that's going to work out."

"Well, why not Mordecai?"

"Because… because that's not what us men do. And Rigby wouldn't want to share the same bed with me, right Rigby?"

Mordecai stared down at the back of Rigby's head and waited for a response. However, Rigby was lost once again in his imagination as he could see himself snuggle onto the bird's chest and hear his heart beat slowly and calmly.

_Wow… me and Mordecai… in the same be-_

"Rigby?"

"Huh, Wha WHA, HUH?"

"Rigby! Calm down dude! Yeesh, you probably hit your head harder than I imagined."

Rigby cleared his throat as he came back to the real world.

"Oh, yeah… right. Sorry Pops, but I think I can sleep on this couch for the night."

With that statement, Rigby fixed himself and scooted toward the hand rest of the couch; Pops kindly moving out of the way for the tired raccoon. Mordecai got up and grabbed a blanket for the raccoon. Rigby smiled and grabbed it from Mordecai. He then reached for the remote control and turned on some random cartoons.

"Well, I'm hitting the hay, I guess! You too?"

Pops giggled in reply as he walked away up the stairs. Mordecai shrugged and turned the lights off. With the T.V light being the only light source available, Rigby and Mordecai hand butted each other, with a little 'ow ow' from Rigby, before the avian walked up the stairs.

"Good night Rigby!"

"Wait, you'll going to bed too?"

"Yeah… feel like ending the day now. Hope you feel better dude."

"Thanks and Good Night."

Rigby stared right back at the T.V; watching Yogi Bear run off with a basket full of snacks. Without him noticing, Mordecai looked back at Rigby and the bright T.V and sighed to himself.

_Sweet Dreams…_

* * *

><p>"FLIN-STOOOOOOONE!"<p>

The cartoon boss yelled out in the show as he saw Fred and Barney run out of the bowling place after stumping their boss's toe with a bowling ball (which was really just a big boulder with holes). Rigby had his eyes peeled at the screen while he had his body covered with his bandages and a nice sheet over him. He slumped out one his arms and picked the remote from the ground. With a click, the channel changed to showing a pre-k show that was speaking in Spanish.

"Hola mi nombre es Dora y este es mi amigo, Boots."

"Ugh… no comprende."

Rigby rolled his eyes before he changed the channel.

"Breaking News! From out of our state, five people have died in Michigan from a mass killing from the an infamous group known as the 'White X'. Police reports have confirmed that all killings were from gun shot and that the victims were all had something in common. The fact that they were all g-"

***CLICK***

The raccoon kept going through the channels before he groaned and turned his head up. Without looking, he flicked the T.V off and dropped the remote on the ground; not caring if it made noise or not. The raccoon just looked up at the bland ceiling; freaking wide awake and bored. He just felt so… stranded; like he felt like he should be sleeping in an area where he would feel more comfortable in. And believe him; the couch began to give him some sort of rash.

He pointed his nose around and stared at the VCR with it's blinking time sign on it.

_11:54 p.m._

_Oh my god… why can't I sleep?_

He covered his eyes and groaned softly before looking back up. He decided to count sheep in his head; hoping to make himself fall asleep.

_1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…Mordecai…10…11…12…13…Mordecai…15…_

He kept counting the silly sheep jumping over an imaginary fence. But he couldn't help but see Mordecai jumping every once in a while. The avian would wink and point seductively at the imaginer as he jumped high over the fence. He would then push his 'crouch' area up as he jumped and thrusted his body forward; which made the raccoon blush hard. Many minutes passed as he continued with the counting for a while; surprisingly having the patience to count over 600.

_645…646…647…64Mordecai…649… Mordecai…Mordecai…Mordecai…_

He couldn't count to 650 due to the fact that he lost count finally. He only imagined his true love jumping from the fence and the avian seemed to have leaped onto an imaginary raccoon that laid right near the fence. Rigby unconsciously closed his eyes as he saw Mordecai lie right near himself on top of a green and grassy hill. The sky had a light orange that transitioned from the setting sun to a dark and romantic purple.

In the middle of his imagination, he curled his tail and looked at Mordecai with a small and sincere smile. Mordecai brushed his friend's face and rolled closer to the furry being.

"So… Rigby. How was your day hanging with me?"

The unconscious being, which was lost in his own dream, curled a smile and twisted his tail under the sheet covers. Back in his dream world, the raccoon blushed and scratched softly under the avian's beak.

"It was… such a fantasy to me."'

The avian of his dream chuckled softly and pulled the bashful raccoon closer. The sunset's light radiated from behind the blue jay as Mordecai became even more good-looking. The bird grinned and seductively stared down his 'friend'.

"Well, guess it's time to make it a reality."

And with that notion, Mordecai got on top of the raccoon and slid his wings under the raccoon. The stunned but appreciative raccoon moaned as he embraced the feeling and friction amongst the two. They immediately rubbed their tongues together while their lips enclosed the passion of the blue and the brown. They stopped for a second as Rigby spoke.

"I Love You So Much Mordecai… Mmmmm…"

Mordecai got his crotch closer to Rigby's and laid right on top of Rigby. The extremely content raccoon waited for those magical words from his one true love as Mordecai opened his mouth to speak.

"Rigby… I Love Yo- _**DING! DING! DING! DING!"**_

* * *

><p>The last image of Mordecai opening his mouth wide open like he was some alarm system scared the living hell out of Rigby. With a shove towards his sheet and with his kicking legs, the shocked raccoon woke up from his short dream and breathed heavily; sweat dripping down from his face.<p>

The dark room with the moon gleaming through one side of window set the calm atmosphere around the startled mammal. Rigby only looked up and saw the old tower cock ringing in cue while the two handles struck midnight. Twelve times it rung; it's bonging seemed to overpower the raccoon as he threw a fit with his sheet and slammed the couch.

"God… dang-it…"

He pulled the sheet over his head and stared down his small frame. He felt so… aroused from his short-lived dream. He flipped his body over and laid on his chest. He stuck his rear up in the air as he pushed his head into the couch's hand rest.

_uugh… that stupid clock ruined everything for me. _

He tried to close his eyes and fall asleep again. He waited… waited… and waited… he even shut his eyes harder, hoping that action would cause him to fall asleep. But he couldn't. He opened his eyes to view the room around him. He thought about his dream; remembering how he felt the plumage from the bird's form. He smiled dreamily turned himself around to view a small pillow at the other side of the couch. Without much thought, he threw himself on the pillow and nuzzled his nose on it. He pulled his sheet closer by using his tail and just lie about the pillow; moving it around and kissing it as if it was Mordecai. He even whispered to one side of the pillow,

"I love you Morde-pew."

And then he giggled softly and attacked the pillow with all of his form. Feeling the fabric of the tan-ish pillow seemed to be amusing for the male critter. His silly playing with the pillow seemed to last for ten minutes or so until he didn't feel like moving anymore. Rigby grinned to himself as he held the pillow off and put his head upon it's fabric.

_Hmmm… I wonder what Mordecai dreams about…_

Suddenly, a big **THUD** could be heard from the upstairs. Rigby opened his eyes widely when he heard some groaning right after the thud happened.

"GUYS? Hello…?"

Curiosity came to him as Rigby slowly got off the couch, making sure that he wouldn't abuse the bruises on him, and walked to where the stairs were. He took each step slowly as he continued to question what was going on.

"Uh… HELLO? ANYONE OK UP… HERE?"

He looked down the dark and ominous hallway and saw a small, faded stream of light coming from his bedroom door's crevices. A quick shadow was shown on the ground before it disappeared quickly. Rigby raised a brow as he moved along the hallway; uncertain of what was going on.

"Mordecai?"

Rigby peaked inside; pushing the door forward. In his sight of vision, Rigby witnessed Mordecai, wide awake and alert, fixing up his mattress and throwing himself upon it. The bird was talking to himself; like he was panicking about something.

"Damn it, Damn it! That stupid bell had to remind of that stup-"

"Mordecai? What are you… doing?"

"HUH, WHA- Oh… Rigby! What are… what are you doing up here?"

Rigby scanned the room and saw some clothes and drools misplaced. He figured that the room had always looked this, besides, the thud sounded as if a heavy object fell on the ground and no drool would have made the noise like the one he heard just now. Rigby looked at the covered ground and realized some random junk near the bed. He then noticed the mattress at an awkward angle.

_What was… what was he doing in here?_

"Well I… I thought I heard noises coming from up here. So… they woke me up and I… well, it scared me a little… I MEAN I was curious of what was going on."

Mordecai smiled a toothy grin and pulled some covers closer to him.

"Well, nothing much is happening dude. Just, nothing."

Rigby felt like something was up. Just by looking and knowing a lot of Mordecai's traits, like his obvious and nervous grin, seemed to set suspicions in the raccoon.

"Oh really? Well. What's with the mattress being so fucked up?"

Mordecai's eyes widened as he saw his friend walk around toward the mattress. Mordecai got up and shrugged like nothing was up.

"I was checking the mattress for bugs. That's all."

The raccoon ignore Mordecai and looked underneath the mattress, finding nothing hidden. He then looked under the bed and snickered.

"Holy Shiz… Mordecai… what's this?"

The raccoon pushed his body inward and shuffled some materials under the bed. The mattress bumped up as Mordecai began to shake nervously.

_Did he… did he find the bracelet? Oh shit… I'm so busted…_

"RIGBY! It's Not What You Think?"

"Huh huh, yeah right! Then what's with these?"

_These… what does he…_

Rigby pushed himself forward to the other side of the bed, where Mordecai was located, and shoved some magazines at Mordecai's body.

"Mordecai, you know you don't have to hide playboy magazines from me."

He opened it with no permission and looked through the pages of naked ladies showing off their flawless bodies. Rigby's cheeks were filled with laughter as he closed his mouth; his teeth biting his bottom lip tightly to hold his laughter back. Mordecai groaned and tried taking the magazines from the raccoon's stubby hands.

"Hey Dude, give them back!"

"Nah Uh! You've been 'playing around' with yourself, haven't you?"

Rigby snickered with his teeth on his tongue while he held the magazines away from the annoyed bird.

(Mordecai was at first relieved that Rigby didn't find his rainbow bracelet. If Rigby would have found the bracelet, that would be the end of their friendship, he thought. Before Rigby had come up from downstairs, and for some bizarre reason, the bird was reminded of his bracelet when the clock rang throughout the house at midnight. But he was… sort of… well (let's be adults here), he WAS 'playing with himself' before the clock rang. He felt underneath the mattress just to be sure. Nevertheless, the bird couldn't feel it there. He went on an immediate rampage through the room, scouring for where his secret object could be, before Rigby could ever find it.)

Luckily his secret, furry crush did not find it before he did. But now Mordecai was annoyed, embarrassed, and tired of the raccoon teasing him of his 'pleasures.'

"DUDE! GIVE THEM BACK!"

"AW. Come on dude! Can we check them out together?"

"EW, NO! Come on, give it back!"

The avian lunged forward and reached far for them. Rigby though barely escaped Mordecai's grasp before jumping on the bed and laying at the side of it. He hastily opened some pages and showed the annoyed avian one of the pages baring a female horse model.

"Ooooh, Mordecai and a Horsey! Neigh…"

"RIGBY!"

Mordecai jumped on the bed and neared the raccoon; ready to push Rigby off the bed and grab those magazines. However, the bruises and bandages made the avian re-think his decision of attacking. So he stayed back and retaliated by just laying beside the raccoon on the bed (unaware of how close he was with his best friend).

"Dude, come on! Just stop… it… whoa…"

Mordecai was staring at another human model; her private body parts showing off a lot. Rigby put on a smug and rolled his eyes.

_Ugh… the typical women pose…_

"OH 'WOW'… That's So Hot…"

Mordecai nodded his head in agreement as he didn't recognize Rigby's small hint of sarcasm.

"Oh... I agree with ya Rigby."

The two stayed on top of the bed, sheets pushed and magazines spread around. Mordecai kept eyeing every model, some looking gorgeous while others looking too seductive. As for Rigby, he thought that all the girls were typical hoes. He just… couldn't see them being 'that' attractive. He felt a little bit sleepy and stretched his arms and legs while he yawned loudly. He cocked his head at the digital clock across the room and spotted the time.

_12:21 a.m._

"Well Mordecai, guess I'm going to sleep. I'm done looking at ladies for tonight."

Mordecai slowly closed his magazine and eyed him at the side of the bed. The raccoon yawned loudly and covered himself with the covers after throwing the magazine on the ground. Mordecai held up a finger as he poked Rigby.

"Umm… you mean downstairs, right?"

Rigby opened his eyes and groaned loudly. He face palmed his forehead and twirled the covers off.

"Um… my fault! I meant to go downstairs. Forgot that I was sleepi-"

Without precaution, Rigby jumped off the bed while talking and slipped on a wrinkly shirt. He flipped over and hit his head on the dirty ground.

"OOOOWWWW!"

"RIGBY? Dude, are you okay?"

The unlucky raccoon rubbed his head and felt abused once again; luck was so not on his side tonight.

"Uh… Mordecai… I need some help down… I'm too tired to-"

"Say no more dude, I gotcha."

Mordecai immediately went over and picked up the bruised up raccoon. He chuckled at his friend's clumsiness and walked down the stairs. With a quick tuck, the avian settled the raccoon down and fluffed a pillow along the couch.

"Now… we won't tell anyone about the magazines, promise dude?"

Rigby made no response as he rubbed his head and closed his eyes. Mordecai smiled and took a long, hard stare at him. He looked so… peaceful… and somewhat cute. It was one of the weirdest feelings he's ever encountered and yet Mordecai embraced the closeness he felt when around Rigby. He couldn't help himself from getting closer to him in some ways without going to the extremes.

The avian took a moment to get a glass of water, walking through the kitchen quietly and using the sink for tap water; he then came back to the living room. Everything was calm and still as Mordecai sat the cup of water on the nearby table, just in case his friend gets thirsty (which he does plenty of times.) The avian could really tell that the raccoon was asleep as drool came from his mouth and flooded part of the couch. Mordecai chuckled at Rigby's sleeping behavior and then grew silent. What vibes he felt for this little friend of his. He had this weird urge… to just go and… and…

_No… I'm not gonna…. That's WAY to risky to do… but…_

He looked to his left and right. He then scanned the whole premises only to feel safe and alone with Rigby. He then blushed as he put his head near Rigby. He could barely hear the soft breathing that his friend was performing.

_Am I… I… Am I really gonna… try this? I… I have to know! _

Mordecai went slowly forward and got closer to Rigby's cheek. He then gave a very quick and small kiss; the soft fur brushing upon the quivering lips of the bird's beak. Mordecai closed his eyes and embraced the second he had with the sleeping raccoon before retreating and looking back. Rigby didn't notice the sudden action whilst his tail flopped to the other side. Mordecai blushed hard as a cherry before sitting up and moving up the stairs quickly.

He went across the empty hallway and closed the bedroom door firmly. He breathed in and breathed out slowly to himself while he laid on the door.

_That kiss… it felt so… strong…_

Mordecai smiled to himself with hopeful eyes as he still couldn't believe that he just attempted a stupid and yet desperate move on his crush. He felt sort of guilty too; remembering Margaret and what she would say if she knew about his crush. It… just felt… all confusing for him.

_Damn it Rigby! Why do you have to be so Straight?_

The avian moaned, fell on top of his bed, and rubbed his face due to the feelings he so desperately tried to hide before. These… homosexual urges were really getting to him.

_I guess a gay man's urges for sex is as strong as a straight man's desire for sex too._

He slapped his head and laughed quietly to himself over the stupid thought. He lied on his bed and thought of what just happened: the misplacement of his bracelet, the porn magazines, and the kiss that Rigby will never know about… or will he?

The avian sighed and frowned a little. He just felt so… bottled up in his thoughts, feelings, and situation on wondering where his lost bracelet was. (He wished that he misplaced it somehow, but the thought of someone finding it was inevitable.)

Mordecai wanted to really talk to someone about his problems… alas, there was no one he can think about that came close to Rigby.

_Skips? Maybe… just maybe. What about Pops? No he wouldn't understand… would he? The group of friends I met at CHOM? Hmmm… I like that! Or even Benson! NO, no, not him for sure._

The thoughtful bird soon fell asleep a little later; losing his train of thought as he fell into a deep… deep slumber.

* * *

><p><em>(Jazz music starts to play) <em>

In a spinning rotation, blue shapes and black lines of some sorts began dancing around each other until they began bumping upon each other. The jazz music, with it's ridiculously loud trumpet soloist, became crazier as the shapes formed on top of each other until a being was formed from all the white, blue, and black objects; Mordecai.

"HUH? HELLO?"

The avian looked around his area and saw nothing but a black background covered with all sorts of shapes and colors. They didn't make any sort of image until the avian started walking forward into the colorful room.

"Heeello? Anybody here?"

All of a sudden, a strong wind blew around the startled avian. Mordecai looked forward to see the shapes and colors bending inwards until it seemed he was in some sort of dark tunnel. His feet began to scoot forward slowly as the shocked bird tried to stop himself from moving. The wind blew faster and faster as Mordecai felt his whole body fly forward; against the howling wind that was pushing his plumage and face hard.

"WHAAAAAATSSS GOOOOOING… **ON! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…."**

Water started pouring out of his eyes as he scanned his surroundings for a desperate way to get out of this 'vortex'. The shapes and colors started to finally form objects and then... people. Mordecai looked closer in front of his flying body and saw yellow and red letters and shapes stopping right in front of him and formed together.

"WHAT THE- OOOF!"

With that, Mordecai's body stopped from a black table with his stomach. He groaned from the the impact while the wind had stopped. He opened his dry eyes slowly and scanned the table that had hit him. The avian then looked behind his back to see his rear right on top of a chair. He appeared to have been wearing a very nice suit with a romantic, dark golden undergarment and an orange tie with stars on it.

_Where the… Where the hell am I?_

Mordecai frantically looked up and saw that he was in a very nice restaurant serving sea food at it's finest. People and anthros all packed the place up as they all were wearing their really nice clothing and extra jewelry.

"Hey Mordecai, do you know what you want to have as an appetizer?"

The avian looked forward to see that the shapes that were in front of him before had finally formed the back of a menu. At the edges of the menu were small and brown hands that held the menu upright. Mordecai knew who those hands belonged to. But before he could say something, the being put the menu down a gave a seductive grin at the bashful avian.

"R-r-r-Rigby!"

"Yeah dude?"

Mordecai examined his 'date' in front of himself. The raccoon looked really good-looking; his furry hair all clean and kempt, his suit matching exactly like the avian's, and his eyes seemed to glow with charm.

"Uh…. Well… Hold On."

Mordecai quickly grabbed another menu from the side of the decorated table and held it up to cover his face.

_Am I dating him right now? Is this really happening?_

"Uh… how about the um… Rigby, what do you think?"

Mordecai decided to embrace this weird opportunity and sat the menu down. He dropped his jaw when his eyes came upon, not Rigby but, Margaret. She eyed him and fixed her blue dress up.

"Uh, Mordecai, Rigby's not around us. You know that, right?"

Mordecai crooked his head and looked all around again as he searched for Rigby.

"Whoa wait a second? Where did you come from?"

"Um… excuse me? You'll the one who asked me out. You okay Mordecai?"

Margaret gave a worried expression while Mordecai was so confused of what was happening. The blue avian smiled nervously and shrugged; deciding to play along to avoid any sort of conflict. He had the feeling of being in a dream, yet he couldn't get out of it no matter if he wanted to.

"Uh… nothing sweetie. Just my paranoia… hehehe."

"Hmmm… right. Well, how do you feel about you and me having the seafood sampler as an appetizer?"

Mordecai smiled and shook his head.

"That sounds good. Let me see what's it made of…"

Mordecai curiosity got the best of him as he lifted the menu up and viewed the appetizer page; covering up his view on what was at the table.

"Hmmm, small servings of lobster, fried shrimp, cheese sticks… honey, I really like this!"

Mordecai sat the menu down with satisfaction until he saw who was in front of him… Rigby; all dressed up and looking good as before.

"Alright then, great choice Morde. We can share the platter and cut the costs."

The raccoon put a hand on one of Mordecai's outreached hands and grimaced a grin expressing his love for the bird. Mordecai blushed hard as he realized how open Rigby was being with him.

_This isn't the Rigby I know… yet. I sort of wish for this type of relationship with him._

Mordecai followed along and put his other wing to cover Rigby's small hand. They continued to stare deeply into each other before the waiter, all dressed in blue and white, asked for their orders.

"Yes, may we have the seafood sampler as an appetizer?"

"Very G'uud Sir'."

The fancy waiter walked away whilst trying to eye the two men at the table. Mordecai scooted his body, so did his mate, and the two kissed each other for a moment. They then settled back and talked about random things; like how fancy their utensils were or how the ceiling paintings were so nice. People all over the restaurant kept eyeing the two and even though Mordecai and Rigby were laughing and having a good time talking to one another; Mordecai could feel the staring amongst the others and gulped to himself. The bird took some moments and looked at the individual people staring Rigby and him down; their eyes seeming to pierce upon Mordecai's own. The avian focused back on his date, who was laughing loudly at his own joke.

"YOU GET IT? Got Any GRAPES? That Duck Wanted Grapes AGAIN!"

"You're too funny Rigby."

Mordecai laughed along with Rigby as the two toasted and enjoyed each other's company. Mordecai held his eyes closed for a moment before opening them to see a laughing Margaret that had just taken Rigby's place.

"Oh Mordecai, you are SO FUNNY!"

The male avian shutted up and sweated from his forehead.

_Why do they keep switching places?_

"Um… hhehehe Yeah! That's me alright!"

Margaret giggled and looked through her purse for something she wanted to hand out earlier. Mordecai tapped his fingers and looked around; seeing that all the staring people before were now looking away and minding their own business. He sighed in relief and looked at what Margaret had in her hand. It was a small card that had hearts and cute decorations all on it.

"I got this especially for you Mordecai."

Mordecai smiled and blushed as he looked upon the card. He opened it and read what was on it.

* * *

><p><em>Dear Mordecai, <em>

_The past couple of months have been the best times of my life and I'm so glad to have finally bonded with you. Hope you feel the same about me._

_Love always, _

_Margaret._

* * *

><p>"AW Thanks Margare-"<p>

Mordecai froze as he saw his date to be the male raccoon he so fell in love with earlier.

"RIGBY? I MEAN! Uh…"

Mordecai looked down and saw that the card had completely changed. Instead of it being pink and fancy, it was white with a sloppy (and yet attempted) drawing of what it seemed to be Mordecai and Rigby holding hands. An extra note was on the left of the drawing.

* * *

><p><em>Mordecai,<em>

_I really don't write cute notes and what not, but I really am so grateful to have gotten closer with you. You're the one who completes me and I can't live without you. I admire how brave you are and I will always love you from the bottom of my heart._

_Love,_

_Rigby_

_P.S. Don't you dare tell any of the guys at the park that I wrote this to you. It's that… well, they still kid on how I am with you. Just ignore them if they ask about me being on 'bottom'._

* * *

><p>Mordecai snickered and wiped a tear of happiness as he glance back at… Margaret. She seemed a little pissed off and looked annoyed.<p>

"Hmph… what's so funny about my card, Mordecai?"

The blue avian straightened up and saw the female avian's arms go upon each other as they helped level out Margaret's chest.

"Uma… nothing dear. I admire how cute it is."

"Hmmm… well, if you say so. You got anything for me, dear?"

Mordecai put his hands on his lap and checked his pockets for anything.

_Nothing._

"So… here's the thing. I don't have anything for you. But I'm probably am gonna pay for this meal, aren't I?"

Margaret looked at him with a glare and put on a pissed attitude.

"Ugh, whatever."

Mordecai felt ashamed and embarrassed as he looked down at the carpet; trying to avoid eye contact with Margaret. Suddenly, his date's voice changed to a more high pitch yet manly voice.

"Mordecai, if you don't have a gift for me, it's fine. Just being with you is enough for me."

Mordecai looked up with excitement as he saw Rigby wink and grin a toothy grin at the avian.

"Oh, Rigby. You know how to flatter a dude."

"Oh you silly, stop talking."

They got close to each other and rubbed their noses on each other. Mordecai gave a peck while the raccoon blushed with infatuation.

"My, aren't we bold tonight."

"You know it!"

They both went in unison as they carried their voices out in their chant.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!"

People all over the restaurant looked and gave unapproved glares and snarls at the two happy men. But Mordecai and Rigby paid no mind to them; they don't like what they see, who gives a flying fu**?

Mordecai blushed and narrowed his eyes at the gorgeous, and undoubtly cute, raccoon that sat before him. But with a blink, a red avian immediately took place of Rigby's spot.

"WHA- OH, Margaret!"

Instead of holding hands with him, Margaret was going through her purse again and taking her phone out. She began texting once again and made Mordecai put a hand on his plumage covered cheek.

"So… um, Margaret, Who you texting?"

Margaret smiles and looks at the different position of Mordecai's.

"Well, I'm talking to Gloria, who's talking to Alicia, who's talking with Grandee that I'm on a date with you. Isn't that hilarious?"

Mordecai smirked and drank more of his water. He looked around and saw that the people near them were smiling and waving at the two lovebirds; thinking that they were a cute couple meant to be together. Mordecai really wanted that… he just had this feeling that him… and her weren't meant to be. He sighed and glanced back at Margaret. She clipped her phone and gave a concern look towards her date.

"Mordecai? You alright?"

Mordecai coughed and cleared his throat.

"Um… Well… it's just that… Rigby and-"

"UGH! RIGBY? Why do you still think about him? I'm sick of hearing you treating him with respect."

Mordecai began to feel offended.

_This isn't the Margaret I fell in love with… right?_

"Wait a second. I can treat Rigby respect anytime! Don't you say that I can't!"

Margaret threw her napkin back and eyes Mordecai.

"Really? That's not what I saw. I saw you push him away when he confessed his love to you. Now he's gone away in hopes of forgetting you!"

Mordecai's eyes became heavy as his body gave goose bumps.

_Wha… WHAT?_

"I WOULD NEVER DO THAT! What kind of being do you take me for?"

"A straight thinking one… As for Rigby, it's simply too late for him to think straight."

Mordecai slammed his fists at the comment and stood up with gritting teeth. Tears seemed to flood his eyesight as he glared down at Margaret; who appeared to be very unaffected by this.

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK OF RIGBY LIKE THAT! YOU'RE A TOTAL CUNT FOR SAYING THAT ABOUT MY FRIEND!"

Margaret laughed out loud while the people and the restaurant all turned back into shapes and floated away. Mordecai began to sweat as the room was now completely black except for the lamp post that gave light to the table and the two birds. The red avian got up and smile the most evil grin that gave Mordecai the chills.

"Oh Sweetie. Don't tell me that you still have those… feelings for him? Remember what I said? Those who are out of the closet should run back in. They don't deserve to act on those… perverted and unnatural urges they so helplessly want. We were DESIGNED to be together… male… and female… that's what Love should all be about. Gay people… are all living a fucked up fantasy…"

Mordecai looked away from those piercing eyes as his body heated up. For the first time ever, he wanted to beat the living hell out of Margaret.

"NO MARGARET! YOU'RE WRONG!"

With that, Mordecai balled up his right fist and went for Margaret's head. She laughed even harder, her voice becoming more aggressive and ominous, before she dodged quickly. She then grabbed a fork from the table, pushed Mordecai's fist down, and stabbed right through his knuckles and table.

"**AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! WHAT THE FUCK?"**

Mordecai screamed in agony as he went to pull himself off the table; his hand wounds beginning to bleed profusely. But no matter how hard he tried, the fork had gone too far in to pull himself out of the table.

"**MAGARET? YOU BITCH! AAAAAAHHHHH! I HATE YOU!"**

However, Margaret only grinned at what he yelled while she reached inside her purse and pulled out a small pistol.

"Oh Mordecai, you're soon find a reason to love me though. Once I take care of the problem…"

She walked around the struggling avian; leaving him to his agony. She looked off to the darkness and shouted out,

"Rigby? … Rigby?"

Mordecai stopped his fidgeting as he reached for Margaret's form. But she was too far awy from his grasp. He then tried to pull the table along with him. However, it seemed the table weighed a ton and was impossible to pull.

"MAGARET, MARGARET? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Before he could shout another word, Mordecai watched in horror as from the midst of the darkness came a black wall and a closet covered in filthy drapes. From within the drapes was heard a low and pessimistic voice of his dear true love, Rigby.

"_He-hello? Mordecai? Is that you out there?"_

When he could hear the faint voice within the closet, Mordecai cried with a moment of joy, knowing that his friend was alright.

"RIGBY! DUDE, I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART! I'M SORRY FOR ALL THE WRONG DOING I'VE DONE TO YOU!"

Margaret then laughed out loud and walked forward with her pistol. Mordecai's body twitched with every step that she took and yelled out to his covered friend.

"Rigby? DUDE? Can you hear him? Can you?"

Margaret laughed out loud and shook her finger at Mordecai.

"Oh RIGBY? Hehehe... can you hear your man?"

"_Ugh… No… just you… Margaret..." _

Mordecai shook his head in disbelief. The pain in his hand began to fade away as his only focus was on Rigby.

"RIGBY? **RIGBY, CAN YOU HEAR ME?"**

Margaret walked closer to the closet and then pulled the curtains away from her; revealing the dark and cold atmosphere within that closet.

"Hmmm... oh well. Hey Rigby, guess who's here to end your misery?"

She gave a cold glare right back at Mordecai and raised her pistol slowly. Mordecai balled his eyes out and kept pulling himself from the table; which had surprisingly budged forward with the desperate and struggling bird.

"MARGARET WAIT! DON'T KILL HIM! PLEASE!"

Mordecai got on his knees and began crawling until his hand was ripped out of the fork's grasp; blood flying everywhere and gushing from the deep cuts and holes. Mordecai didn't care of his wounds, he only cared of Rigby's safety.

**"RIGBY? RIGBY!"**

Mordecai flapped his arms closer and closer to the closet as he saw in horror of Margaret placing the gun near Rigby's head. Mordecai knew he couldn't reach him in time as he desparatly cried out,

**"GET OUT! GET OUT OF THERE, RIGBY! PLEASE COME TO ME! I LOVE-"**

**BAM …**

His ear holes rand from the deafening sound as he watched his friend fall down unto the cold, dark ground.

…

"R… Rigby?"

Mordecai crawled up until he lay right near the corpse of his dead friend. He looked up at Margaret's emotionless face and immediately tackled her.

**"YOU BITCH! YOU UNDESERVING, EVIL BITCH! I'LL KILL YOU!"**

He began choking her neck, yet… she wasn't moving… in fact, her body didn't feel real. It was… wooden. Then there were strings attached to the arms and legs and head and… all over her body! Mordecai dropped the lifeless dummy and looked back at Rigby.

_Holy Shit! He's fake too!_

Mordecai looked up from where the strings were coming from and saw a huge version of... Himself... staring down at his own small frame. The huge Mordecai was holding the two handles of the puppets; like he was some sort of puppeteer. Mordecai, sitting at the dark ground, just stared… speechless of what to say…

_I've… been controlling this the whole time? What… that makes no sence! How the-_

Suddenly, the huge puppeteer-like Mordecai shrugged and dropped the two handles that were going to land directly on the frightened and unlucky avian; who screamed from the intense abhorrence and terror situation before-

**"NO!"**

* * *

><p>Mordecai flew up from his covers and looked left and right. He frantically checked his hands for any signs of cuts then scooted his sheets away from his frigid form. He massaged his brows before scooting his body off his bed; which was still covered with some porn magazines on it.<p>

"Oh… my… god. That was one fucked up dream I had."

He sat at the edge of the bed and looked at the digital clock on the window seal.

_*Sunday Morning / 6:52 a.m._

The sun peered over the horizon, bringing orange and purple colors to the clouds, and brought some light into the room. Another simple morning for the bird as he strolled on over to the window and gazed out. He only had to get up for work around seven or so; but he didn't want to go back to sleep since the dream scared the shit out of him.

That dream… why was it so… real? It really got to Mordecai and the worse part was that he never remembers a lot about the dream. However, the basic idea of the dream haunted his mind. Especially Margaret and how she acted in it. And how she shot Rigby with no emotion. And the fucked up ending with himself controlling the whole situation like a puppeteer… the whole dream was so…

_So… confusing…_

Mordecai sighed and shook his head; hoping to shake the images out. He stretched his back and squeezed his glutes before heading to his bed. He simply picked up the porn magazines and hid them back under his bed. He stared under there for a second before realizing that his 'gay' bracelet was still missing. He frowned on the thought and yet remained optimistic; thinking maybe he just misplaced it. Unfortunately, he was wrong.

The bird opened the door of the room and looked back. He saw the broken pieces of the trampoline and grimaced.

_Wonder if Rigby will feel better today?_

He left and went across the hall quietly; not hearing the occasional snores from Pop's bedroom.

_Hmmm, he's probably awake, making some breakfast._

He solemnly smiled to himself and walked down the stairs; the creaking of the stairs making the only real noise to this quite morning. The avian stopped halfway and looked over the living room to see Rigby awkwardly sleeping on the couch. The raccoon was positioned with his rear up in the air while his chest and head was resting (and drooling) on a tan-colored pillow. Mordecai snickered at the thought of what he could have been doing last night. The avian then walked near his best friend and shook him.

"Hey Rigby? Riiiigby? Wake up dude! Benson's probably coming here soon."

The raccoon groaned his usual groan and looked up. The raccoon then realized what position he was in and straggled out of it.

"DUDE! Hello? Ever heard of privacy?"

"Yeah dude, just not in the room where everyone walks into."

Rigby threw the pillow at Mordecai, who was laughing at Rigby's embarrassed face. The raccoon then got off the couch and checked his body on how he was healing up.

"Huh, I don't think I need all these bandages."

"Well except for the ones on your chest and tail."

Rigby shrugged and nodded his head while rubbing his chest. It really had a bad gash on it from last night and he was lucky he didn't have to go and get stitches on it. The two headed upstairs quickly and got rid of some of the bandages on Rigby's arms and legs; Rigby groaning and complaining about the feeling of the sticky bandages ripping and pulling his fur.

"eeeeeEEEE OOWWW! DANG IT MORDECAI!"

This 'procedure' surely woke up Rigby as he rubbed his arms and legs while Mordecai threw the used bandages away.

"You feelin' better?"

"Yeah. Do you think Benson will let me off of work for today?"

"I doubt it dude."

They both smiled at the fact about Benson and got up. They quickly washed their hands and headed down the stairs; making loud thud noises along the way. They ran into the kitchen and stopped to see Pops and Benson at the table; chatting with each other while drinking coffee and eating some bananas.

"So, you feeling better my friend?"

Benson drank some coffee from his bland white mug and took notice of the two dudes walking and settling down. He glared at them intentionally before he looked back to Pops.

"Of course Pops, I'm feeling 'Much better' with these two goof balls around."

Mordecai took notice of the gumball's sarcasm yet spoke nothing of it. Pops however giggled and started eating his banana like it was a lollipop. Mordecai took a banana and started eating it before speaking to Benson; the bird's mouth however was occupied by the yellow fruit.

"So B-enson, did you have th-e fl-u?"

Benson rolled his eyes and stopped when he saw that Rigby was eating a banana as well.

"Y-eah dude, did yo-u have the f-lu?"

The boss slapped his face and glared at the two; munching on their bananas.

"No, I'm fine. Can we Please leave it at that?"

Everyone else stopped and remained silent. Rigby brought his brows down and thought,

_Yeesh, don't drop your gumballs on us dude. What's he so pissy about?_

After the awkward silence Benson took another drink and looked at the bandages on Rigby.

"I'm sorry guys. I'm just not feeling like myself today. But, Rigby, what happened to you?"

Rigby gave a confused look before down and remembering he had his some bandages on still.

"Well, my trampoline broke when… I got on it."

"Hmmm… that explains why the couch was a mess. Don't forget to clean that later."

Benson got up from his seat and walked towards the back door and opening it halfway.

"I'm going to check on Muscleman and Fives. Meet me outside at the front in half an hour."

The boss walked out while Pops cheerfully said his farewells. Mordecai and Rigby looked at each other before turning their glance to Pops. Rigby took Benson's used coffee mug and drank some of the rest of it while Mordecai spoke to Pops.

"Hey Pops, did you notice Benson's behavior?"

"What do you mean, Mordecai?"

"Well I mean have you see him annoyed and angry at one moment and then… emotionless at another?"

Pops stroked his mustache before responding back.

"Um… actually, he has been sort of like that." *giggles* "Oh well."

Pops got up and giggled out like the British fairy he was. Mordecai smiled at how… optimistic Pops was while Rigby literally blew on his own coffee to make semi-bubbles in his mug; not paying attention of what was going on. Mordecai noticed Pop's mug full of coffee and took the opportunity to blow bubbles in it like Rigby. The raccoon gleamed at Mordecai and pushed him teasingly before trying to blow more than his avian friend.

"You Can't Beat Me!"

Mordecai shoved Rigby back and the both competed in a random contest of 'blowing bubbles into coffee' to pass the time… together.

* * *

><p>"Alright guys, we got another day of work that's going to last for a bit. Luckily though, it's not as much as we need to do. Skips, take care of cutting some trees that interfere with the rock passage to the west of here. Muscleman and Fives, you two go and get supplies for Rigby's party on Wednesday while finishing your chores. As for you two,"<p>

Benson put his chart board on his hip and stared down the two dudes.

"I need to have a private chat with the both of you."

Muscleman laughed out loud and pointed at Mordecai and Rigby, who were feeling nervous.

"HAHA, You two are so in trouble."

The wind blew and the trees swayed while everyone, except for Benson, Mordecai and Rigby, got up from the stairs of the house and walked off to do their duties of the park. Mordecai looked up to see the ominous-looking clouds which gave the outside world a natural shade of gray.

Benson clicked his pen and walked up to the dudes before sitting right beside them. He sighed for a moment and glanced off to the sky. He continued to stare off while he talked to Mordecai and his pal.

"Guys, I heard of what happened yesterday with you two and Muscleman and Fives."

Mordecai's and Rigby's bodies froze up before the raccoon tried to explain.

"WHOA, HOLD ON! You can't get mad at us! Muscleman started it!"

Mordecai came in and supported Rigby.

"YEAH, Muscleman started it and freaked the heck out of us!"

Benson turned his head and glared at Rigby. It was obvious, due to the color of his head, that he was trying to control his temper while talking to the two.

"Is It True or Not that you attacked Muscleman's face?"

Rigby began to stutter while his nerves were getting the best of him.

"Uma… well…"

"DID YOU or DID YOU NOT hit Muscleman in the face?"

Tears began to cross the crevices of the raccoon's eyelids as Rigby worried for the sake of losing his job.

"Benson I… I did."

The raccoon immediately scrunched up his body while he waited for the two words that would end his career at the park. Mordecai held his wing out and tried to convince Benson not to fire him.

"Benson Wait! Please don't fire Rigby! He was only sick and tired of how Muscleman treats him. Please you have to give Rigby another chance! Please! I don't know what I would do if I-"

"I'm not firing him."

"-would lose Rigby as my part-… wait... what?"

Mordecai's jaw dropped from unbelievable-ness. Rigby held his brows up and gave Benson a shocked and yet utter less expression. Benson coughed before he stood up and stared down to the two inferior employees.

"I'm not firing you Rigby. Even though you broke a rule of conduct, and the fact that it was Muscleman who is annoying but hard-working, I'll spare the chance of firing you. But…"

Benson stopped and lowered his head down closer to Rigby's side before continuing.

"… There's something you have to do to make up for your actions."

For a moment, Rigby and Mordecai stared at each other in disbelief before Rigby turned his head back slowly.

"What is it?"

The boss looked around for anyone else before lowering his voice. The wind blew low while the clouds from up above began to come closer; ready to drop it's load of water on everything underneath. Benson rubbed his neck and breathed in before continuing.

"I want you to attend to be part of my… my anger management class this Friday."

The avian and raccoon stared wide-eyed as the both of them had the same thought that crossed their mind.

_Benson? In… Anger… Management? …_

* * *

><p><strong>SO YAY! Chapter 10 done and there's a weird ending to it ^^ Got this one done pretty quick but it won't always be this fast! Later on you'll get an understanding on how and why Benson iswas acting 'weird' with his random anger blowouts and trying to control himself (partially his personality but how he reacted to it and stuff). A more 'in depth' story of his life since he's haven't been in it much. Also, Mordecai and Rigby are changing a little without even knowing it (two cute love birds). So hopefully something happens between the two, I know it Will :3**

**My life might be changing since I probably might move from Georgia all the way to Texas in a amount of weeks per say. There are no freakin' jobs in Georgia that I am able to get but I keep trying to get one! I've been applying so much and one of my friends got a job when she applied AFTER she spent her summer having fun with friends. So freakin ticked from that :/ I just need a new lifestyle and I need to get away from my normal and pathetic life :/ So Many reasons why I need to move that it's too much to explain. HATE THIS ECONOMY**

**EXPECT a Delay as always and letting you know, I have over 11,000 views and I am so blessed to get that! THANK YOU ALL for the immense amount of support and I am not giving up on this story. LOVE YOU ALL and I'm so happy that people really care about this story. Like this story is now Part of my Life and I'm ALWAYS gonna take comments and views seriously GO MORBY! :3**

**Also, Chack out another Morby Story from IPsychic called Why Does Life Have to Be So Hard? She has been an Amazing friend and Author and I hope you take the time to read it! I Have and I LOVE IT! :3 :3 **

**Please Leave a Comment Anytime, don't be shy, and be truthful! I always have room to improve :) Even if you are Anonymous or a Member! :D**


	11. Chapter 11: Building Relationships

Chapter 11

_(Still Sunday Morning, three days away from Rigby's birthday…)_

Shock as can be, the blue jay and raccoon stared wide-eyed at their boss. The two knew that Benson had problems controlling his temper and all; but… the idea that Benson in anger-management? This really wasn't like Benson at all. Their only instant idea as of why this would occur was if he was desperate enough to find help or find a better way to control himself.

Mordecai was the first to speak up from the subtle news.

"Benson, Dude? Why do you want to go to a program like that?"

Rigby fixed himself up and rubbed his eyes before putting his own input on this.

"And why would you want me to go with you in the first place?"

Benson held his hand up calmly and shushed the both of them. He grabbed his brows from the annoyance and stress that built up inside of him.

"Look guys, I don't want you blabbermouths to go around and telling everyone else about this. But I feel like the only way to control myself with my anger issues is to find extra help."

Mordecai stood up and stared down at Benson; who seemed troubled from the moment of his boss's confession.

"Benson, I can sort of understand the reason why you would want to go get help, but why now? Why haven't you done this before?"

"Because I didn't have to worry about my anger getting me fired!"

***Thunder roars from afar***

All three froze in position when they heard a storm a brewing. Benson quickly got up while he pointed towards the park house.

"Come on guys, I'll explain in a sec."

Sprinkling rain began to fall from the sky while they walked towards the entrance of the house. Rigby gave Mordecai the concerned 'What the fuck' expression whilst Mordecai just shrugged back. Rigby held tightly to the edge of the door as he heard some mowing of some 'cutter' as the sound rung out in the faint distance. Looking back and seeing some trees shake off in the distance, the vermin cocked his head at the boss entering and asked,

"Hey Benson, what about Skips? Is he going to cut the trees still, even in thi-"

However, Rigby was cut off as Benson held his hand up before pointed at the raccoon.

"Don't worry Rigby." _*sigh*_ "He loves to work in the rain. Now get inside."

Rigby mocked Benson's bad attitude towards the back of the gumball boss before closing the door behind all three of them. The nice air conditioning and the outside rain, which started to make pitter patter sounds all throughout the house, helped set the nice, calm atmosphere in the living room. Yet the tight and strict boss seemed to kill the feeling of the calming house as he took a quick stroll around the house. After straightening up some kinks here and there, Benson made it back to the living room and breathed in deeply, as to help himself with his migrane he just earned. Of where Mordecai and Rigby were already sitting on the couch, they felt sort of awkward and unsure as Benson walked over and sat right beside the two; like as if they were close friends… like really close. (And maybe a little too close for the raccoon's comfort.)

Benson cleared his throat and glanced back and forth between Mordecai and Rigby.

"Well, I just feel like I had to get this off my chest and just tell… somebody. You see, um… you know that I really don't hate you guys to death… when you do stuff that I don't want you to do…. Like clowning around and being retarded and… being irritating or pushing on my last nerves, or causing so many distractions at works, or basically destroying the whole park over something-... you get what I'm saying, right?"

Mordecai and Rigby nodded their heads slowly as they tried to ignore the insulting things Benson was saying. On that note, Benson continued.

"But, well... just a couple weeks ago while I was dealing with you cowards, my boss, you know who, was strolling down the park and saw me yelling at the two of you. He didn't approve of my... actions… and he asked Pops if my behavior had always been this way… and well, you know Pops. He told him everything about how I handle you two. So, my boss wanted to talk to me in private and he told me about my behavior; saying that it was my fault for your idiotic behaviors and that 'yelling' isn't going to cut it. So, if I don't lose the attitude sooner or later… he's going to fire me."

Benson scrunched his brows again and slouched his back. Mordecai and Rigby both felt bad for him a little; even though they were getting over all the technical details of how Benson explained the two's behavior. The avian sighed and thought back to all the weird and kind/hateful actions that their boss had recently been doing; like the yoga poses or the nice behavior in the mornings or any other strange behavior he's committed.

"So… is that why you've been acting so nice to us lately?"

Before Benson could answer, Rigby held his hands up and commented.

"Wait, wait… so the yoga, the good behavior in the morning… haven't you tried to control your anger before when, at the end, you made us DEPTH for like, what, A WEEK? And reme-"

Mordecai bumped his friend hard to hush him up. Rigby got the idea and immediately remained silent while he held his arms above each other; in an obvious pissed off notion. Benson got the point from Rigby and at first gave him a death glare. He then held his arm behind his head and shrugged.

"I know, I know. I'm still thankful you guys forgave me for that and didn't plan on suing me. But- But that's beside the point. Look, I don't want to get fired because I've worked my ass off for this position. So, you get why I have to take anger management. I know it sounds bizarre, but I've tried everything in the book and yes, I even had a breakdown yesterday and that's why I wasn't here. So, you get it! So… yeah... Alright?"

Rigby mumbled a little and couldn't help but to speak out again.

"I don't see why I have to go with you… Pssh, That's stupid."

Benson rolled his eyes, pointed directly at Rigby and got close to his face.

"Muscleman told me of your behavior and I'm not forgetting about it. You don't attack someone over Water! That's just some of the intolerable behavior you presented ever since you applied here. So, you'll going with me or YOU'RE FIRED! … And the fact that... I don't want to go alone and feel uncomfortable in a room full of people who need help… but that's beside the point. I'm only part of it for a couple of weeks, so you either come and actually learn something from it, or I can kick your ass out the door. Your choice."

"Fine fine, yeesh. I'll go to the stup-"

*Mordecai bumps him before the raccoon changed his wording*

"I mean… 'stupendous' meetings."

Benson caught the sarcastic tone of the raccoon but ignored it. Mordecai spoke out before Benson got up.

"Wait, does anyone else know of you going?"

Benson sat back down and re-positioned himself farther away from the ticked off raccoon before speaking.

"Muscleman and Fives don't know, since they both would just go and tell everyone they know. And Pops? Well he's… this is partially his fault. If I told him of this, he'll probably let know, even by accident, and that would just make my boss even more anxious to fire me. He would think that I'm some sort of loon and he'll fire me for that very reason. That's one reason why I haven't done it before really… but yeah… Skips knows and actually suggested it to me, but he's trustworthy and hasn't told anyone. So, only you two and Skips know of this… And NO ONE else. Got it?"

Mordecai and Rigby immediately nodded their hands on it with Benson. The boss got up and walked over to the kitchen entrance. He then came to a halt and looked back at the two dudes.

"I was going to make you guys do lawn work today, but since it's raining, I need you guys to clean this house spotless. Once you're done with that, I need you to go clean the attic and make sure there's no critters running about up there. Recently Pops been hearing things and footsteps up there. So, let me know if you guys find anything. And, then… hmmm, well, that's pretty much it. And Rigby… don't forget."

With that, Benson twisted his body around and headed into the kitchen. Mordecai and Rigby got up and stretched for a moment while mentally getting over Benson's situation and rant.

"Oh my God Rigby, that was a close call dude. You were so fired."

"I know man, but now I have to attend shitty classes with Benson. That's going to suck balls."

"Dude, it's no big deal. Just go with him, say nothing, and leave. That's all you can do. But… that Sucks for you! OOOOOOOOOOHHH!"

Rigby punched at Mordecai's knee, yet it did nothing as Mordecai laughed on.

"Dude, you look so down. Here, let me 'Uplift' you!"

Mordecai immediately grabbed hold of the raccoon and lifted him over his head as if he was some backpack. Rigby's body froze as his bandages and fur brushed against the plumage of his friend.

"Mordecai? What are you doing?"

"THIS!"

Mordecai picked Rigby off his back and threw him down on the couch that the raccoon safely landed on. Rigby couldn't help but laugh from the silly behavior, realizing they were fake-wrestling.

"Oh Yeah? YAAARRR!"

They faked-wrestled for a bit, while they headed up the stairs to where the cleaning supplies were at, until they finally stopped. The two laughed and high fived each other until they grabbed the supplies and headed straight to the kitchen.

If there was one thing that Benson forgot to mention about the two, is that they were happiest when they worked and fooled around… together.

* * *

><p>"Do we seriously have to dust these pictures off? I can't even reach one of them without jumping from the stairs!"<p>

Flustered with the picture frame out of his reach, Rigby, with a feather duster at hand, jumped his twentieth attempt towards the dusty picture of Pops; the old man laughing silly while hanging on the wall. The picture seemed to taunt the raccoon; saying that you'll never reach me. Rigby only managed to dust some of the bottom of the frame off while his body weight and gravity helped bring down the raccoon once again. Mordecai gave a grin of pride as he walked over, grabbed the feather duster from Rigby, and dusted off the frame for the shorty. Small particles of dust flew down and all around Rigby as he sniffed his nose, sneezed, and pouted. He walked over to where the couch was and started picking up the Risk board pieces off the ground (from when Muscleman, Fives, and Pops played the day before).

"Humph, I wish I was taller. So then I can do a stupid, easy task like… dusting off picture frames."

Mordecai, after finishing with the last picture frame, headed over to where Rigby kneeled at and helped picking some of the pieces off the ground.

"Oh come on dude. It's no big deal that you're short. It's… one of the things that make you so cool."

Rigby smiled a little while he laid another soilder piece into the box.

"Pssh, I know I know. It's that, what would my life be like if I was, you know, normal heighted?"

"Normal heighted? Rigby, you know that you'll completely normal just the way you are."

"No dude. I mean like… about 5 feet and 8 inches tall? Would that make me cooler?"

Mordecai slammed the last piece into the Risk box before closing it with Rigby. The avian looked up and cocked his head at the thought of Rigby being taller.

"Nah dude, you would look… weird. Or a bit out of shape probably. Or maybe being super skinny and all."

Rigby waved his hand at Mordecai's opinion and laughed a little.

"Well, I can also have muscle and be buff and get all the mal-… ladies on me and-"

"Dude, you would look like Don then. You know, you're muscular brother."

Rigby stopped for a moment and glared at Mordecai before turning and grabbing the nearby pledge sprayer from the storage bin. Mordecai shrugged before feeling bad at that moment. He thought of something quick to fix what he said.

"Or… that Don would look like you."

Rigby looked up before wiping the wooden table with his pledge-covered paper towel. He smiled and snickered at how Mordecai changed the topic around.

"YEAH, and then Don would be jealous of me! OOOOOOHHH!"

Mordecai laughed along, which made the atmosphere of the living room more lively and good between the two. The two dudes went ahead and finished the living room and, already finished up with the kitchen, went up the stairs to go ahead and straighten up Pop's room first. Walking down the hall and carrying their supplies of cleaners, they were nearing Pop's room before Mordecai nudged a reminder towards Rigby.

"Dude, remember, don't touch anything that isn't ours. Got it?"

"Yeah Yeah, stop nagging me. Besides, I don't think Pops is up here really. He's probably out doing-"

"OH HELLO Mordecai and Rigby! What brings you two fine gentlemen here?"

Rigby stopped in the middle of his phrase while the both of the dudes smiled at Pops and examined the British man's room. Pops was sitting on a wooden chair while he had some acrylic paints all out and a paint stand holding a blank, white canvas. None of the paints were out yet, but it seemed that Pops was sorting himself to be ready when he wanted to paint.

But with it's pink walls and white vertical stripes, the room gave off a very calm and pleasant setting while Pop's bed and drools were kept clean and organized. Three windows off to the side helped give partial lighting to the room, even though the dark clouds and rain gave off a gloomy feeling to the outside world. Mordecai talked first with the usual question, which this 'simple question' helped allow themselves to enter into the room and to straighten it up whilst talking to the cheery man.

"Hey Pops! Do you need some straightening up in here?"

Pops giggled while he went over from his chair and sat on his bed. Thunder roared in the background whilst Pops thought for a moment.

"Well, my room is pretty cleaned, since I am very well organized. But I was going to clean the bathroom for a moment and then get started on painting a picture of the park!"

Mordecai walked over and sat the storage bin down near the bathroom.

"Don't worry Pops, we'll take care of it. You know we have to come clean here anyways, due to orders. Right Rigby? Rigby?"

"WHOA! Dude, it's blowing out there like crazy!"

Mordecai looked over to see Rigby laying his face against the window; the raccoon examining all the details and rain that spattered onto the glass shield. Pops walked over, placed his face against another window beside Rigby, and watched with astonishment as well. Mordecai rolled his eyes but smiled as he went inside the bathroom himself.

_Nevermind… I got this… _

It really didn't take long, like three minutes or so, before Mordecai got done with the bathroom and closed the door to help keep the 'fresh' smell of it inside. Mordecai glance over to see that the two were still looking out the windows. Curious of what was going on, Mordecai took a spot at the final window open and looked through it to see the storm howling and blowing. In this bird's eye view, he could see way off in the distance… a yeti cutting down another tree.

"Dude! That's Skips over there! Do you guys see him?"

Rigby yawned and pulled his face away and laid right on top of Pop's bed.

"Yeah, already saw him. He's been doing that for a while; like he's some galactic warrior."

Pops too brought his face away and looked at the blank canvas that he had near one of the windows.

"Hmmm… ooooh! I know what to paint now! Hehehehe…"

Pops got out a big overused sheet, from underneath the bed, and laid it out near the painting supplies. Mordecai and Rigby got back together again and got closer to Pops to see what he was going to paint. Nonetheless, Pops waved his finger at the two and shooed them off.

"No no no, I want it to be a surprise for later! Off you go you two. And Thank you!"

Mordecai and Rigby hopped to it as the door was closed behind them; along with their cleaning supplies. Rigby dusted off some particles from his bandages while he headed to where his and Mordecai's bathroom were.

"Ok dude, let's just get this stupid cleaning done and we can worry about our room later. Does that sound good for you?"

Mordecai brought his arms to his sides and smugged a grin.

"Dude, we gotta clean up our room sometime."

"I know, I just don't feel like doing it right now."

"Dude, you're never in the mood for it."

Mordecai headed over to where Rigby was, which was in their bathroom, and started wiping the mirror in semi-circles. Rigby mumbled a bit before starting to clean the toilet. Some moments passed while the house's walls faintly vibrated with the crashing of a thousand pitter patters from the hard rain. The bathroom was clean and spotless as before as the two dudes nodded their heads and gave each a quick slap upon each other's hands.

"Cool dude. Now all we have to do is go check the attic out and then I can somehow plan a get together with Margaret."

Rigby glanced over, after putting the storage bin back to where it belonged in another small closet, and grimaced.

"Oh, yeah. That's going to be awesome for you. I don't know what I want to do yet while you'll gone."

Mordecai raised a brow and laughed a little to himself.

"You'll kidding, right? Can't you just call Eileen or… Jeremy to hang out with you?"

Before the small vermin could say anything in response, the raccoon's small phone rang from the depths of their bedroom. The both of them immediately ran into their room whilst Rigby threw some clothes out of the way and held the phone to answer it.

"Uh, Hello?"

"Rigby? Hey, it's Eileen!"

After his ears rose from the sound of the mole's voice, Rigby lifted the phone away and examined the number. It was a different number than what Rigby was called on from the last time Eileen called him. With a shrug and a fake grin to continue his 'boyfriend' act in front of Mordecai (who was partly cleaning up the room) the raccoon responded.

"OH HEY EILEEN! How's my sweet babe been doing? And what's with the different number?"

Eileen giggled from the other line as she twirled the phone line at an old phone booth. She glanced to her side to see Margaret squished in with her. The rain outside of the phone booth kept at a steady pace.

"Oh, well just wanted to let you and Mordecai know that me and Margaret are heading our way to the park to come visit with you guys, and then hopefully go on separate dates. The Coffee Shop is closed today and we figured why not see you guys and surprise you two? So, now we both are inside this vacant phone booth at the park; since it's raining so hard outside."

Rigby scratched his head and put his ears closer to hear the 'pitter patters' of the rain hitting the phone booth that the two girls were in.

"Wait, you guys are using a crusty, old phone booth to talk to me? And uh… yeah, on the whole dating 'thing' with ya."

"Ok! Awesome then, it's a… it's a date! Uh, yeah, I know us being in a phone booth sounds ridiculous, but Margaret and I had umbrellas at first to avoid some of the rain. But the weather got way worse while we walked our way over. The wind was blowing all like 'whooo' and 'whoosh' and all." *giggles* "So I pointed out a phone booth near the park and believe it or not, we both can fit in here! And just for fun, I called you using this phone booth, which was only like 5 cents to call somebody!"

Eileen's tone of voice sounded more excited from the 'five cent' part while Rigby could hear some complaining from the red avian; who could barely move in the vacant space. Rigby took a moment to look outside to see the weather slowly dying; clouds were spreading out while the rain became less hard all of a sudden. Yet, it was still pouring.

"Huh, that's an… interesting story. So, are you guys coming soon? It appears that the winds and such is going away by now."

"Um… I suppose so. Huh… Hold on. Yeah Margaret? You already… Yeah, ok. So, Rigby? Margaret is already walking out of this booth, so we'll meet you guys over in a moment, k?"

"K, babe! Ei-luv-u!"

Eileen giggled a little while she hung up the phone booth and followed Margaret out of the booth, pulling out her own umbrella that had the same markings as of Margaret's, and unto a path that headed toward the main park house.

Back at the house, Rigby told Mordecai of how the girls were already coming to the house through the rain and that they were going on separate dates later as planned. Mordecai's eyes seemed to widen as he looked at himself and then at how the room looked; both were messy and unkempt.

"They went into a phone booth… In the… rain? Never mind that, let's at least clean ourselves up before they arrive."

The two nodded in unison and headed out of the bedroom and into their bathroom; where they brushed their teeth and hair/feathers. Then they raced each other down the stairs and threw their own rears on the couch. Mordecai waited intensely to see if the two girls were coming by now whilst Rigby rolled his eyes away from Mordecai. The avian felt sort of excited to see Margaret again and pointed to the window in the living room.

"Dude, check if they're near us by now."

"Dude, chill. Don't get your wings into a knot! Alright? I'll look out the window."

Rigby, in a pathetic and lazy attempt, scooted towards the nearby window and looked outside. With the rain continuing, the vermin spotted Eileen and Margaret underneath their own umbrellas and were on a path. Rigby rubbed his nose and went back to the seat right near Mordecai (who was brushing his feathers back and making himself look neater). Rigby smiled for a moment at the all freaked out yet excited avian, who was getting ready for Margaret.

"Dude, how do I look?"

"Mordecai, you look fine, alright? Don't worry, Margaret's walking out of a storm. In comparison, you'll probably look and feel better than she will."

"Yeah… okay then. Thanks dude."

The two stared amongst each other for a moment. They're eyes met and both their hearts pounded for a breif second. Then, with a cough from the both of them, both looked away whilst the avian gave the raccoon some space.

"So… um… are they here yet?"

"Uh… Barely, they're like-"

***DING DONG* **

The two dudes looked at the door before both immediately running towards it and opening it. In their view, Margaret and Eileen were wearing matching raincoats and boots while they had their umbrellas closed at their sides. The water on them kept dripping as they were in the middle of taking their coats off and were planning on putting them on the porch's side. Mordecai spoke up quickly to welcome them.

"Well, Hello you two! Lovely day for a walk in the park, yes?"

Mordecai was playfully pushed back by Margaret while she and Mordecai laughed from the silly joke. Rigby sort of smiled at how happy Mordecai was but really fake smiled at Margaret; who of course returned the favor. The vermin then looked upon Eileen, who was still having trouble taking off her coat.

"Here Eileen, let me help."

With a sudden tug on her zipper, the coat came right off and Rigby laid it to the side. Eileen, wearing a cute, pink tank top and small blue jeans, went and hugged him while thanking him. Rigby continued his act to hug as tight as she was before both entering inside the house. Mordecai closed the door behind them and walked over to see Margaret already settled down at the couch and touching one of the game controllers.

"AW, Mordecai, we should totally play 'Sumo Wimps' together to past the time. All four of us should!"

Eileen agreed while sitting near the edge of the couch. Mordecai sat in between and shrugged; getting one of the other controllers just lying about. Rigby walked over to the console, turned it on and plugged in the two controllers only allowed to be used for the console. The T.V lit up and showed the old arcade style of sumo wimps landing on stuff and making the stuff explode. Rigby scooted his rear and sat while he watched Margaret and Mordecai first getting to play against each other.

"You got this Mordecai! Whoo!" Rigby cheered his bud on while giving Margaret the occasional 'fuck you' glare. Margaret, of course, gave the same while the game started. Buttons were randomly pushed while the 'wimps' kept and blocking and hitting one another. With a few hits and strikes, it seemed that Margaret had no skill as her sumo wimp was destroyed. Mordecai boasted a little as Margaret laughed and cheerfully pushed him again.

"Man Mordecai, you'll good at this. I want to challenge Rigby next!"

Margaret looked over and pointed at Rigby with interest. Rigby laughed and scoffed aloud as Mordecai shrugged and handed the controller over.

"HA! You… challenging me? You don't know what's coming for ya! I completed all the levels on this! You don't stand a chance!"

Rigby snatched the controller from Mordecai and got his head and body positioned; ready to kick Margaret's ass on this game.

The game started off with a reboot button and the two sumo wimps entered the 2D arena. Rigby began doing flips and mini cartwheels with his wimp as Margaret made her player do nothing; patiently waiting for the right oppurtunity. Rigby's wimp began charging up for it's 'Mega Slam' attack while Margaret only then maneuvered her wimp forward, back, side, side and smashed the A and B buttons at the same time. This made her sumo wimp to perform a flip in the air and jumped on Rigby's own wimp; who loss focus on their charging attack and stumbled away from Margaret's wimp. Even though the graphics were pretty… old and flat with very little (Atari) details, all four of them could tell what was going on. Rigby pressed some buttons to get his wimp in motion as it began moving forward towards Margaret's wimp. However, Margaret laughed to herself as she made her character 'High Kick' at Rigby's wimp and then performed an 'Elbow Crunch' attack that knocked Rigby's wimp to the ground.

Rigby watched with fleeting hope as his wimp's health bar went all the way down to zero. Enraged of what had happened, the pissed and defeated vermin yelled out in protest.

"WHAT? WHAT WAS THAT? A CHEAP MOVE?"

Margaret shrugged, reacting as if she did nothing wrong yet not caring. Mordecai raised his hands to calm down Rigby as Eileen tugged him down to help lower his temper. Rigby relaxed a little, even though he felt as if his nerves wanted to tear Margaret's pretty little face off, before he breathed out slowly. After the heat of the moment, Mordecai laughed a little.

"Dude, I never seen you that upset over a game before… it's like…"

(Knowing about Margaret's and Rigby's tough and harsh relationship, Mordecai decided to hint it at this moment without literally spoiling the secret out.)

"It's like you and Margaret have some sort of grudge against each other. HAHAHA-"

The bird was the only one laughing while everyone else kept quiet of what the avian had said. It was true fact that he had stated… and Mordecai knew all too well of it.

Rigby, after getting over his nerves, laughed a little as Margaret and Eileen finally cheered up from the awkward moment. Before anyone could say anything else, a voice that sounded serious and 'in control' came from a far off distance in the house.

"Mordecai? Rigby?"

Mordecai's laugh died off as he heard the familiar voice yelling his name.

"Wait, did you guys hear... our boss… wait, dude! Did we do that job yet with the attic?"

Mordecai and Rigby, after realizing that they didn't finish their last responsibility yet, jumped off their seats, grabbed Margaret's and Eileen's hands, and headed up the stairs quickly to where the entrance of the attic was at. All four stopped near the ceiling door, which led to the attic. Benson's voice boomed again, from where it seemed to be from the living room.

"Mordecai? Rigby? You guys done with your chores yet?"

Without second thinking, the boys went for the ceiling door as they scooted back Margaret and Eileen (who were confused and puzzled while allowing whatever the boys were doing). Footsteps started to echo throughout the house from the boss; getting closer and louder.

Mordecai, due to his height, grabbed the door's small string and pulled on it. Immediately, the door opened and right then and there, a ladder came straight down and hit the ground hard. Thankfully, everyone was out of it's way when it happened. After the occurrence, Mordecai nodded along with Rigby as the both climbed the ladder just as Benson, with a clipboard at hand, was at the top of the stairs. The gumball boss glanced and saw the two dudes already on their way up the attic while seeing a red avian positioning herself to come along.

"Oh, there you two are. Getting started on the final job, I see?"

Mordecai and Rigby, with their lips pursed and bodies on the ladder, glanced down to see Benson along side with Margaret and Eileen. The boss turned his gaze and shook hands with the two girls while he introduced himself briefly.

"Hey, I'm Benson, the boss of these two goof balls."

Margaret smiled with ease as she shook hands with him.

"Hi, I'm Mar-"

"No, you don't have to introduce yourselves. Mordecai and Rigby talk about you two a bunch."

The two girls took a moment to grin at Mordecai and Rigby; their faces saying, "Really?". Mordecai blushed a little while Rigby rolled his eyes. Benson turned his body back forward and flipped a page on his clipboard.

"So once you two get done with checking if there's anything up there, report back to me and then you two shall… hmmm... be done. That is all."

With that, Benson said his quick farewells and headed downstairs; very quick and simple as he is (when he's in a good mood). Mordecai and Rigby sighed in relief as they motioned the girls to come and follow them up. Below Rigby, Margaret grabbed onto the ladder and headed up behind the two dudes. But as for Eileen, she stayed put to where she was at. After Margaret got her big behind up the ladder, Rigby looked down at Eileen; with Margaret and Mordecai looking down after getting themselves situated.

"Hey, Eileen? You coming… babe?"

"No, I haven't taken my meds yet for today, so I don't want to inhale all that dust up there. You guys go ahead, I'll wait down here for ya."

"Well… Whatever you say. Ei-lu-vu!"

Eileen giggled as usual while the other three got up, walked around the entrance (so they wouldn't fall down) and looked around the dark and dusty attic. The only source of light was coming from some windows on the sidewalls, which helped give the three a sense of scenery.

The outside world appeared as the rain clouds were still afloat and the light that shined through the windows was gray and faint. Only small showers were heard throughout the house. Amongst the stillness of the attic, boxes upon boxes sat on each other in the long and out-stretched attic. Small toys and papers sat on top of over-used desks and chairs; the chairs seeming to have rolled on three wheels instead of four since one of the wheels were broken off. The wooden and frail floor seemed as if it could break at any moment because every time they took a step, a sharp creaking noise was produced to make the attic seem as if it was haunted. Rigby, ignoring the creaking, went over and opened some boxes and looked through some of its' contents.

"WHOA GUYS LOOK! An old Pez dispenser! With a yellow dog with no mouth."

Mordecai and Margaret walked up to see Rigby pull out a Pez dispenser. The head of the dispenser was the head of Gromit from the 'Wallace and Gromit' cartoon from Britain. Mordecai stared in awe for a moment with Rigby before Margaret grabbed it out of the vermin's grasp and tossed it back into the box.

"Rigby, you know you can't be snooping through stuff like that. It's not your stuff, right Mordecai?"

Mordecai blinked out of it and nodded in agreement with his girlfriend. Rigby, though, went over and looked back in another box nearby.

"So what Margaret? It doesn't belong to anybody."

Margaret rolled her eyes before pointing on the side of the box that stated 'Pop's Belongings.' Rigby snorted a little and continued to look into it; pushing some books and fragile glass cups.

"Well, if he laid it up here, it's obvious that he doesn't need it."

Before Rigby could grab another object, Mordecai patted the raccoon's back and nudged him a little out of the box.

"Rigby, come on dude. We didn't come up here to look in other boxes. We have to check if anything is up here… Hmmm, let's look around the boxes instead. Maybe we can spot some sort of rat or creature and report it back to Benson."

Rigby complained and grunted before throwing his hands up and walking out of the two avians' paths. Mordecai shrugged with embarrassment while Margaret waved her hand like saying 'It's Okay.' Minutes passed while the two avians followed near Rigby; Mordecai walking to the left side of Rigby's back and Margaret on the right side. Only a few moments went by before Mordecai spoke up.

"Hey, I'm going to look over here. It's best that we cover the whole attic instead of just half of it."

The blue bird then walked off to the other side of the attic; leaving Rigby and Margaret to generally search in the same area. Rigby felt so bored and annoyed. He knew nothing would appear at the end of another corner of a box without some meaning to. So taking an opportunity to make himself feel entertained, he began to kick other boxes around him for fun; and in hope of scaring the creature out of it's 'hiding place'. The boxes that were kicked by the vermin barely budged forward and they tend to fume some dust into the air; making Margaret cough briefly and helped making her eyes itch.

"Hey Rigby, can you please stop the kicking?"

Rigby scoffed and ignored her; continuing to kick more boxes behind himself and towards Margaret's area of space. Margaret clenched her fists as the only response she got was more contact between some cardboard and Rigby's foot. The red avian tried though to keep her cool; knowing that she would upset either boys if she went and yelled at Rigby to stop being annoying and irritating. Nevertheless, the thought of stuffing boxes onto Rigby or stuffing Rigby into a box were nice thoughts to laugh at for herself.

After kicking about thirty boxes or so, Rigby kicked another random box that had a flashlight that laid upon it. The tool rolled over the box and fell down with a thud that made the floor vibrate greatly; even the noise of the landing made everyone jump.

(The thud made Rigby jump so high, he acted like he was going to jump on Shaggy's arms (from the show 'Scooby Doo') and make the human run away with him.)

Rigby then spun around and held his hands as if he was the karate kid.

"Who- huh? WHAT?"

Mordecai ran over and stopped near Margaret, who just got done dealing with spider webs sticking to her face after she jumped as well, as both avians looked at Rigby and the space between them. All three of them saw the black flashlight on the ground; rolling a little along the wood. Mordecai bent down and picked it up; feeling the hard and glossy top of it while the bottom half had a ruff shielding for a good grip.

"Calm down dude, it was just this flashlight probably. Please, just… Get a Grip. Heh heh, get it?"

The blue avian then waved the flashlight up and waved it towards Rigby. The raccoon sighed from relief and then laughed afterwards from the lame pun. Margaret though took hold of the flashlight and flicked it on.

"Come on you two, stop clowning around. I want to find this whatever this thing is and then get out of here. I'm tired of dealing with spider webs and dust."

Margaret walks on ahead and uses the flashlight's light to view the whole attic area. Only shadows and such were seen throughout the dusty room. Then a gleam of light peered from the back as the flashlight shined on a picture frame. The only odd and noticeable object seemed to catch the eyes of the avian as she moved toward it slowly, leaving the two dudes to follow close behind.

"Margaret? Where are we heading towards?"

"It's that… picture frame at the end of this room."

Their steps slowed down until they stood in front of a picture frame that was sticking out of a box. Even though she said it wasn't good to look through someone else's belongings, Margaret grabbed the frame and brought it out to view it with Mordecai and Rigby. Margaret held the flashlight on it as they could clearly see a picture of some dudes doing something in a dorm room. But what? Before the avians could get a better look, Rigby went in front of Margaret and snatched the picture frame from her grasp to study it closer.

"Wait a second… is that…"

Mordecai and Margaret nudged themselves forward as Rigby turned to face them. He had that look as if he was trying to hold something hilarious back as his cheeks filled with laughter. Margaret grabbed back the picture frame as she and Mordecai looked at the faintly colored picture. Their eyes widened and before she knew it, her 'man' and Rigby began to laugh out loud from what they saw. Margaret though shook her head at the two and held the frame down. Mordecai and Rigby continued to laugh from the hilarious picture.

"HAHAHAHA! Benson… smoking WEED IN HIS COLLEGE YEARS? WHAT?"

"I KNOW DUDE! THAT'S HILARIOUS! WHO WOULD HAVE THOUG- HAHEHA-"

Both of the dudes fell on the floor, making the attic floor vibrate from their body weight, and continued to laugh. Like… just the image of Benson, sitting on that bean bag chair, smoking weed with his old colleagues was just… it blew their minds. Margaret began shushing them and asked them to lower their laughter. Mordecai nodded, with his eyes held shut from joy, and got himself up; while snickering still. With a wipe of a tear, Mordecai calmed down and looked again at the picture with Margaret.

"Hehehe… that's too funny. I wonder why he doesn't let anyone know about this. I would totally smoke weed with him."

Margaret glanced back at Mordecai and gave him a confused expression.

"Wait… do you smoke weed?"

"Uh…"

Mordecai couldn't read Margaret's face as to how he should have responded. Yeah, he does smoke weed. But every once in a long while (and sometimes with Rigby, if they have the money to buy some). But he wasn't sure if Margaret would like that activity from him.

"Uh… uma…"

"Mordecai? Do you?"

Before he could respond though, some boxes that were near them shook and fell over onto the ground; breaking the commentary between the two. Margaret flashed her flashlight in the direction as they both looked to see what that was.

"Rigby, was that you?"

Mordecai turned his beak and saw no sign of the vermin.

"Rigby? Where the heck are you?"

Margaret began to worry if that noise was caused by the 'creature' that they were looking for. It only took a few steps forward away from her boyfriend before something jumped and scared the 'shiz' out of her.

"**RAWR!" **

"**AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! … RIGBY!"**

Margaret furrowed her brows as she quickly fixed herself. Rigby, though, laughed and pointed at her as he rolled all over the ground once again from behind a box. Mordecai walked over and kicked Rigby softly on his side; which (no matter how soft the avian tried), it still made the raccoon moan in agony.

"Rigby! Dude! You're a jerk for doing that."

"Oooooh… Oh, come on guys, lighten up. I just had to scare ya. Yeesh, we know there's nothing really up here. Let's just go and tell Benson that we didn't find anything spooky up here… but just a picture of him with weed."

"No dude, were not going to let Benson know that. Can you imagine how pissed he would be if he knew that we found nothing up here, except his 'weed' picture? He would think that all we basically did was goof around up here."

"Yeah Yeah, whatever."

Rigby got up and pouted as he walked his way towards the exit. Margaret sat the picture frame down.

"Come on Mordecai, this place is giving me the creeps."

Mordecai happily obliged and walked for a moment with her. Margaret stared down at her newly found flashlight and an idea popped into her head. To tease with her man, she flashed the flashlight shining up on her face and gave a spooky grin that made Mordecai grin for a moment.

"What are you doing Margaret?"

"Heh, well can you imagine me in a silly horror film?"

She continued to flash the light all over her face as she made silly faces; which of course made Mordecai laugh and act all scared.

Suddenly, the face seemed so… déjà vu-ish… as if he's seen it before. Then, parts of his 'nightmare' from this morning came back to haunt him as he saw flashbacks of Margaret's evil grin from the dream. Her eye's piercing and hurting him and saying all those nasty things…

"_DESIGNED… TO BE TOGETHER… FUCKED UP, F-Fucked up FANTASY- Not Thinking Straight… Straight…"_

Theses words and images made Mordecai jump back a little as he tripped over a couple of boxes. A dust cloud came a-floatin from the impact as Margaret reacted with lifting the blue avian up and dusting him off.

"You okay Mordecai? I didn't Really scare you, right?"

Mordecai, dazed for a moment, glanced back and smiled nervously; breaking a sweat that crossed his brows.

_What the? What was that all about?_

"Uh… yeah. I mean I'm fine… not scared… hehehe."

"HEY, you two, freaking, love birds coming or what?"

Mordecai and Margaret could hear Rigby's voice coming from below them; sounding all annoyed and irritated. Mordecai immediately helped himself forward, with her help, and headed in front of her; a couple of inches ahead. Margaret continued to stare at his back, all worried and confused for a moment. She then eventually shook her confused thoughts and tagged along; going down the ladder right behind Mordecai.

Back in the hallway, Margaret watched as Mordecai and Rigby lifted the ladder up together and pushed the attic door shut. They dusted their hands of any dust and smiled like they were true men. Rigby glanced around and noticed no sign of his ugly yet dear friend.

"Where the heck is Eileen?"

Mordecai and Margaret raised their brows and gazed around too, with no avail to where Eileen was. Suddenly, some giggles and a small conversation came from the far end of the hallway as the noises were coming from Pop's room. The three stepped their ways towards the room and opened it slowly to see two recognizable beings getting along.

"Pops! This is a very nice painting."

"Oh, well, Thank You Eileen!"

The British man giggles with delight as he sat his used paintbrush inside a bowl full of mushy, mixed-colored water. He clapped with joy as he turned to face three of his friends (including Margaret)… (well, anyone to him is his friend).

"Oh MORDECAI, RIGBY, and… YOU! Come Look! I Finished a wonderful picture of Skips!"

The painted picture showed a similar figure of a yeti carrying a sword, bright and all of it's majesty, fighting of… some sort of hurricane. Mordecai faked a grin as he looked at all the 'hard work' into it. Since having some knowledge and an art degree, he didn't feel like the picture was all that… good. It was very sloppy as some of the paint on it appeared to be mixing with other colors to make some 'brown' spots on it. But Mordecai and Rigby couldn't hate it since, well, Pops painted it.

"Oh… WOW POPS! That's Awesome of you!"

"Yeah Pops, you paint like a pimp!"

The raccoon threw peace signs down with his hands as the two, and Eileen, kept complimenting. As for Margaret… she acted along while trying to get use to the British man's head size.

* * *

><p>"So, you already talked to Benson that you guys are done?"<p>

Margaret and Eileen stood near the house's entrance as Mordecai and Rigby walked from the kitchen, slapping fives with each other. Rigby laughed a little as he elbow bumped Margaret (on purpose).

"Yeah Margaret, but Mordecai and I were so tempted to tell Benson of his… College picture."

The two laughed again whilst Margaret rolled her eyes. Mordecai waved his wings to try to drop the subject.

"Hehe, Come on guys, let's head out."

After gathering their belongings (holding their raincoats and umbrellas), Eileen pushed open the old door and peered out to see that the rain had finally stopped. Feeling the cool post-storm breeze, the four walked by the grass; avoiding puddles along the way. Margaret laid her head on Mordecai's shoulder while he held her close. Behind the two lovebirds were Eileen and Rigby; trying to do the same. However, Eileen felt really out of balance while her 'man' kept pulling his shoulder and neck up. Their stepping was way off and they repeatedly kept stepping out of place. With a small shove from Rigby, Eileen and himself gave each other space and just held hands; eventually making themselves walk right beside Mordecai and Margaret.

"So, um Margaret, where are we going today?"

"Oh Mordecai, we're gonna meet up with my other friends, remember?"

Mordecai smiled normally and looked up; trying to hide his nervousness. Though only Rigby noticed Mordecai's reaction; staring intently at the two while giving occasional glances back to Eileen.

"Oh, while you two go and do whatever with other girls, me and Eileen are gonna do something WAY better!"

Margaret gave a cold stare before smirking.

"Even though we're not competing on who's going to be at a better place, but, what are you guys doing that's WAY better?"

"Well… we're going to… um…"

An awkward pause came afterwards as the raccoon felt unsure. Margaret snickered while rubbing Mordecai's plumage-filled arm; just only taunting the short vermin. Rigby ignored her though as he quickly replied back.

"We're going to the mall! YEAH! UH!"

Rigby held himself up like some pimp as Margaret rolled her eyes and held herself closer to Mordecai. Eileen raised a brow as she poked Rigby and mouthed 'You Silly'.

Eventually all four of them were at the end of the park's property as they crossed under the big sign that named the park's entrance. Margaret knew exactly where to go and how far the restaurant was as she leaded Mordecai off with a quick left turn. Rigby reacted quickly as he shifted himself also and walked close by Mordecai's back. Eileen staggered along, trying to keep hold of Rigby's tight grip, before Margaret cocked her head around to see Rigby still near them. The red bird stopped in her tracks, making Mordecai almost tripping over her.

"Rigby? Eileen? Don't you guys know that the mall's the other way?"

Mordecai fixed himself and turned around to see Rigby and Eileen stopping in their tracks after Margaret's accusation.

"Um… yeah Rigby, you do know that the mall is the other way, right?"

Rigby's eyes became wider for a moment as he could hear how deep Mordecai's voice was as the bass of the bird's tone of voice seemed to shiver up the raccoon's spine. With several blinks followed, Rigby responded back in a jiff.

"OH! Um… uh Yeah, I forgot. Well… um a, see ya guys later!"

With a nervous laugh and a cheesy grin, Rigby turned around with Eileen as both groups went separate ways. Only some seconds passed as the raccoon turned around to see a last glimpse of Mordecai in the loving bonds with Margaret. The raccoon turned his sorrow eyes around, realizing that he's walking away from Mordecai in the clutches of a bitch, and sighed. Eileen sighed as well and glanced at him.

"We're not really going to the mall, right?"

Rigby raised his head and chuckled.

"Eileen, you should seriously have more faith in me, right?"

Their voices seemed to escalate as Eileen gave a playful shove at Rigby.

"Well you're the type of vermin who doesn't stick to their word, right?"

"That's right babe! Pssh, I mean Eileen. That's how I roll!"

The both laughed out while turning another corner. Their laughter subsided after a bit when Rigby put his hand on the park's gate fence; his fingers sliding across the individual black bars.

"So… um, you wanna hang at the coffee shop… oh wait, you guys are closed today. Um… you up for some arcading?"

Eileen first gave him a confused at first and then snickered.

"Well, alright. Besides, you owe me the chance to beat you in a game since your obsession of beating Margaret earlier was enough to waste my turns on that game you had."

She smiled whilst the vermin shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"Aw, I still can't understand how she beat me? Girls aren't supposed to win games like that!"

"Oh Rigby, you silly"

She gazed at the side of Rigby's face, seeming as if time has slowed down, before secretly slapping herself out of it without her friend realizing it; who of which was thinking too hard on what made him screw up earlier against Margaret.

Eileen contemplated with herself as simple thoughts reminded her of what she shouldn't be trying to rekindle... the small sense of love that she tried to get rid of before seemed to have bothered her a little ever since Rigby's confession of his sexuality…

_Remember Eileen, he's not for you, he's not for you… you're just friends with him… just… friends… _

_just long time… great… _

_friends…_

* * *

><p><em>(Darkness is the only thing you see at first before a question is being asked…)<em>

"So Mordecai, can you guess where we are going?"

Margaret giggled as she held up her wings to cover Mordecai's line of vision.

"Haha, I have no idea babe. It better not be the middle of the road."

"HA HA, very funny, Mordecai. You should have more faith in me."

The red jay smiled as she continued guiding the blind bird down the street; a couple blocks off where they departed from Rigby and Eileen. Cars swished and swooshed by as the streets were filled with the sounds of friction, between tires and the wet road, and the chatting beings walking around. The two love birds continued their silly game before Margaret pushed against Mordecai's plumage-filled chest that made Mordecai wave his arms around; trying to feel where he was at.

"Alright Mordecai, guess where we are at?"

"Um… a restaurant?"

"Well duh silly, but it's…"

The girl bird removed her hands from Mordecai's closed eyes as the blue jay opened them to see a familiar sight.

"Aw Margaret! Why in the world are we at the Coffee Shop?"

Mordecai looked at the door to see the 'CLOSED on Sunday' sign on it. Margaret smiled sincerely as she held up a key and stuck it through the lock.

"Well, my boss gave me this key to enter into the shop for any apparent reason, since I've been his hardest worker yet. So I sometimes come in here to clean or just straighten things out and he gives me small raises. Were like close friends. But he doesn't know that I sometimes let others come in and hang out for a small bit. So, we can make some sandwiches back in the storage, watch some T.V, and let my friends hang out with us! It's gonna be wicked cool! And he'll never know!"

Mordecai raised a brow of uncertainty as he watched his girlfriend unlock the door. With a shove, the door opened with the usual bell ringing after being hit from above. The blue jay smiled and shrugged as he walked on in with Margaret following behind; locking the door behind them. The windows that had light shining through helped give visibility to the birds as Margaret went over and flicked some lights on; only a couple lights went on so the place wasn't too lively but good enough for a chill day. She then went and shut all the blinds in front of the windows while Mordecai went over, turned the T.V on, and grabbed a nearby remote. He sat down at the usual spot where he sat at and looked over to see an empty space. The table… seemed different, like it's been replaced or something. But Mordecai paid no mind to that until, for a brief second, he imagined an illusion of Rigby sitting right beside him with some good ol' coffee. Nevertheless, that illusion disappeared like a cloud of smoke when Margaret sat down on the same spot beside Mordecai. Mordecai blinked out of it and saw Margaret smile back at him.

"You okay Mordie?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a… nervous to see your friends."

"Nah, don't be. They're so cool to hang out with. They are like my most trusted friends really! They're be here in like an hour or so. But in the meantime, you and I can hang for a bit."

Mordecai nodded and shrugged as he faced the TV screen and clicked through some channels just to pass the time. Margaret watched as she slowly scooted herself closer to her man. Ever so slightly she got closer… and closer… to the point that her feathers were right up with Mordecai's. Mordecai blushed for a bit as Margaret kissed him on the cheek.

"You like that big boy?"

Mordecai cocked his head and stared widely at Margaret.

"Um… yeah, of course Marge."

Mordecai kissed her back and held her close. Margaret hugs him and closed her eyes as Mordecai looked up and felt his teeth chattering. He felt… unsure, at the moment, on what he should do or how he should react. It's like… he wasn't really feeling it right at this moment with her. In his head, the song 'Like a Virgin' by Madonna was stuck in his head as he kept looking between Margaret and the T.V. Margaret then took it up a notch as she put her right leg over to the other side of Mordecai's and sat behind him. He body pressed along Mordecai's back as he slouched forward. Mordecai was slowly sweating as he felt Margaret put her arms over his shoulders and laid her head against the back of his.

"Hmmm…. How does that feel Mordecai? Better?"

Mordecai could feel his own heart skip a beat as he glanced to see her so close; her feathers and breasts just slowly brushing against his own back.

"Um Margaret? Uh… where are you going with this?"

Margaret again kissed him Mordecai became very nervous. He looked up at the T.V screen to see a news broadcast before noticing Margaret looking up and realizing his action.

"Oh, you nervous babe?"

His eyes became huge as Mordecai felt Margaret move around himself and sat in front of him on his lap; their eyes meeting and their beaks close.

"Margaret? I'm not… really in 'that'… mood…"

Before he could say anything else, he was hushed by the touch of her finger against his beak's front. She smiled seductively before she began kissing him like crazy. Mordecai tried to resist but to his own senses being overwhelmed by the girl of his dreams, he passionately kissed and rubbed their fingers around each other. They moaned in pleasure as Mordecai felt Margaret's boobs, underneath her shirt, rub against his own breast, as he was so tempted to touch them. Suddenly without warning, images of Rigby complaining and laughing and all different expressions seemed to distract Mordecai of what was really going on.

Before they could continue with their random love interest on each other, Mordecai tapped on her to stop for a moment. Margaret smiled sweetly while she rubbed his shoulders again.

"So Morde… you trying to tell me something?"

"Uh… well… Margaret… Can I be honest?"

Margaret got closer to him while their heads nudged.

"What's up?"

"Well… can we do it… later, babe."

"Later?"

"Yeah, I just… want to hang out with you and get to know you better… that's all."

Margaret fell silent for a moment and then resume back to her original smile.

"That's fine. I… uh, would like to get to know you better too!"

She sighed a bit while she laid back against the table and held Mordecai's cheeks.

"You… want to keep your virginity still?"

Mordecai broadened his eyes as he laughed softly while feeling SO embarrassed.

"Margaret, Really? I'm not a… alright, you caught me."

Margaret tapped his nose area and got up. She walked around, got close behind his back again, and rubbed his shoulders.

"How about this, virgin birdie. I'll go and make some sandwiches for us."

She hugged him and walked on off, feeling some sort of disappointment and some respect at the same time. Never before has a guy really given her some space… Usually she acts first and then gets rejected later on.

She didn't dwell on the thought of 'acting first' for long when Mordecai turned around and got up beside her. Mordecai faced her and kissed her on the beak passionatly. He let go and held her chin up with a finger.

"I'm sorry babe… I find you extremely attractive… but, right now isn't the perfect time… You understand where I'm coming from, right?

Another awkward pause happened before Mordecai hugged her and looked back at her seldom face. Margaret sighed softly but then nodded her head. She looked up and spread her beak crevices to an upward grin. Mordecai smiled back kissed her on the cheek.

"Um… Can I come back there with you? You know, just to make more sandwiches for your friends as well!"

Margaret looked down at first and then stared deeply into Mordecai's eyes.

"Of course… honey bird."

Mordecai snickered at the sound of that while he and Margaret headed back to the storage area.

"Thanks babe. I love you so much!"

"Yeah, Yeah, you silly."

_As long as you don't love him back… we're fine…_

* * *

><p>"Eileen, you so suck at this game!"<p>

With a score of 6-0, Rigby goes for the puck as it skids across the neon, purple, air hockey table. Eileen waves her arm scoots her mallet forward in attempt to hit the puck. But the puck hits the side of the mallet, hits a nearby wall, and skids its way inside Eileen's goal. The buzzer rings as the scoreboard showed flashing lights displaying 7-0. Rigby flipped his mallet up in the air and yelled,

"OOOHHH! In your FACE!"

Eileen giggled as he walked around to see Rigby done spinning around and slamming his mallet on the table.

"Great job Rigby. You really got to calm it down though."

"Yeah, I know. Whatever. Care to play again?"

Eileen gave him that snooty look towards him.

"You know we already played this like fives times, right? Come on, lets play some basketball. That will probably get you enough ticket points on your own card so that you can get those clappers you always wanted."

Eileen pointed towards some brand new basketball sets that were flashing the name 'EXTREME BALLS'. Rigby snickered at the name while Eileen shook his head at his immaturity. Rigby pushed his bottom lip and shrugged like saying 'I have the right laugh.' The two walked their way towards it, just realizing all how quiet the arcade really was since their was barely anyone there (it was in the middle of the day anyways.) Rigby flipped his card and sighed as if he was about to start complaining once again.

"You know what? I think it's stupid that they have replaced tickets with just a card that holds all the ticket points in it. Tickets are what made the prize experience more fun! Hearing the tickets slot out of the machines, counting how much you had, carrying around huge stacks of it to show off, and shoving them at the associate's face at the prize counter while saying, "Is this enough?" But now we carry around these lame floppy cards like as if we just visited the bank or something."

Eileen raised her finger just before she could explain how much easier it was to have cards in arcades. But before she could speak, Rigby's phone vibrated in his hand as he flipped it and read who was calling.

"Oh great, it's Jeremy, that bird that likes you."

Eileen widened her eyes as Rigby answered the phone.

"Hey…. Yeah it's me… huh… wait… oh… me and Eileen are at the arcade… yeah, Eileen… yeah, she doesn't she likes you yet…"

Rigby eyed Eileen and snickered a little before returning back to Jeremy.

"… oh dude, I wasn't snickering… yeah yeah she's with me… yeah, we're at the arcade on Gosling Road … you wanna come visit?"

The two ended up at the basketball set as Rigby held his body up with one hand on the game while he pushed his phone closer to his ear.

"Cool, cool… what you wanna tell me? … Talk to me about that bill about what? Dude, I don't care about bills, just meet us over here if you wanna have your chance with her, alright?... Ok, cool. See you then… alright… k…. huh-uh… alrighty, Jeremy… you can stop talking now…"

Rigby flipped his phone to hang up on Jeremy as he had this annoyed expression on his face. Eileen waited to hear what he had to say as the vermin stretched his back and put his phone to the side.

"Alright, so your 'Romeo' is coming here to try to meet you again here."

"Awesome! I'm so excited to meet him here. Wait, does he know about you fake-dating -"

"Who cares? I don't. Come on, my winning urges are getting the best of me. I play basketball all the time with Mordecai."

Rigby quickly slid his card through the slot and did the same for Eileen. She shrugged to herself as the 'EXTREME BALLS' sign lit up even brighter to show that the game has started. Cheap basketballs started rolling down from the top of the sets as Eileen threw one perfectly through the net. Rigby tossed one up but it only hit the rims. Aggravated, he threw another one… and another… and another up at the net. But every time he tried, the balls kept bouncing on the rims and away from his goal. With his brows down, he gave a glare towards Eileen as he watched her 'swoosh' each ball through the net like a pro. Rigby looked at the time, which read two minutes, and panicked.

_OH, NO WAY AM I LOSIING TO A GIRL AGAIN!_

Rigby clenched each ball tighter and threw the balls up repeatedly in a faster pace. But it seemed that every time he threw one after another, the balls would hit each other in mid-air and hit off on the sides. Feeling desperate, Rigby stole balls from Eileen's slot and threw them into his; trying to give himself more of a shooting edge. Eileen eyed him and then smirked as she stopped playing and stood on the sidelines to watch Rigby's feeble attempt to catch up. Time was speeding up as Rigby put all his concentration into the game. He threw like eighty shots at the net in the last minute before he threw one final ball on the final second. Everything goes in slow motion as Rigby widens his eyes to see the ball drop on the rim, roll around it, and finally came down to a-

**DING DING! PLAYER 1 WINS! 140-0 NEW RECORD!**

'_Swoosh'_ went Rigby's final ball as it went through the net. Rigby realized that he was too late to score the point since the game didn't count it. Rigby just stared at the High Score sign changing from 132 to 140; flashing as if the machine was taunting him. Eileen walked and slowly patted Rigby on the back.

"It's alright Rigby. I only beat an early morning kid's score, that's all. But… Does Mordecai make you play better in basket ball?"

Rigby scratched his head as he got himself up and walked alongside Eileen.

"Uh… well, most of the time he throws me up in the air and I do my usual slam dunk or I steal the ball and… pass it to him…"

"Sounds like you two have great 'chemistry'."

Eileen giggled while Rigby blushed hard as he pushed her aside. She poked him while the raccoon couldn't help but give a small smile back. He hid it immediately though as he straightened himself up.

"Let's just find another game that you, yourself, can play, alright?"

* * *

><p><em>"Today, a robbery took place of where a local person died due to a gun shooting. Only some witnesses and video surveillance are the only references to help uncover the roberers-"<em>

The T.V, with a low volume tone, was the only background sounds that helped give the coffee shop a feeling of livelihood (where only a few lights were on in the darl and 'closed' store. Nevertheless, Mordecai's and Margaret's voices were way louder than the T.V itself as they continued their conversations.

"Nah uh! So you guys still haven't told… that Pink guy about his car's front window being cracked by that golfball?"

Margaret laughed out loud after she swallowed some of her sandwich as Mordecai shrugged, blushed, and rolled his eyes. He bit another piece of his chicken sandwich (ironically) and laughed quieter than she was.

"You know that the pink guy is named Pops, right?"

"Yeah HAHA I get it! But he doesn't seem to be the 'angry' type of man. He seems more… Bubbly! Like…."

Margaret's laughter died down as she came up with a simple thought.

"Is he… um- actually, never mind."

"What? What is it?"

"Well…"

Margaret reached for her coffee, full of creamer and sugar, and drunk some of it.

"Um… is Pops… gay?"

Mordecai's cheeks filled up before laughing his heart out. He fell onto the floor and held his tummy in to help himself from laughing too hard. Margaret just sat there with her hands to the sides before putting them into a pout position. Mordecai looked over and realized how serious she looked. His laughter died down before wiping a tear from his eyes.

"Wait, you _serious_?"

"Uh, yeah! Is he?"

Mordecai shook his head as he got up to his feet and sat right back beside her.

"No, he's just really bubbly, that's all."

"Thank God… bout to think that your whole group was watched by a gay boss."

"Yeah yeah… hhehheheh."

Mordecai gave a simple smile while Margaret fixed her arms back. The birds sat there for a while in silence as the blue jay turned up the volume on the T.V. It started talking about some gang violence that had recently just happened yesterday.

_"In Michigan, The White X gang has struck again, killing nearly five people who have one thing in common… their sexuality. That's right, they target the types of races and people they do not like… cops do not understand why really and they can't seem to locate them. Nor do the police know who is part of this 'gang', however, the gang do leave their mark when they kill someone; leaving a small white x on the victim's neck. Further investigation will be taking place. In other news…"_

Mordecai turned down the volume while he slurped some of his coffee. He looked to his left to see Margaret busy typing away on her phone. It appeared that she didn't even hear the tragic news; nor even cares for that matter. Feeling bad about what just went down, Mordecai rubbed his neck as he sat there for a bit until Margaret clapped her phone shut and nudged Mordecai.

"So, the girls are bound to be here in just a few moments. But… hmmm… I don't know what to talk about now, honey."

Margaret poked him while her boyfriend shrugged and rolled his eyes in a silly way. But the two just sat there afterwards, just basically waiting for the girls.

* * *

><p>"Okay Rigby, we're done playing this. Let's go. You have enough tickets on your card to have those clappers now."<p>

"Hold On Eileen! I want to hit their heads again! They are secretly laughing at me."

"Rigby (sigh) they're moles who come out of holes. They don't laug-"

"SHHH! I MUST play again Eileen!"

Eileen rolled her eyes as she watched Rigby slide his card through the slot again. A whacky Mole voice came through the cheap speakers exclaiming, "WHACK ME!" Rigby watched as little robotic moles jumped up from their hiding holes as he uses the mallet, which is connected to the machine, and whacks all the moles he could see.

"BAM, and another BAM, and another BAM!"

Eileen stood to the side as she watched Rigby's absurd behavior on whacking some moles. The vermin's arms went as fast as they could as Rigby continued to slam the heads harder, harder, and faster. The game ended as soon as the bell rung out saying the game was over. Rigby threw the mallet back and puffed out his chest like he was some hero.

"I OWN this game! OOOOOOOOOOOHHH!"

Eileen nodded her head and guided Rigby away from the game.

"And now we can own our own stuff over there! I want to get some cute toys."

Rigby eyed her before snickering to himself. The mole though pushed him as to tell him to shut up. Rigby stuck his tongue out behind her back while they walked up to the prize counter. And of course… no one was there.

"Hello? HELLOOO?"

Rigby looked at most of the prizes on the wall. Toys and dolls, balls, some rare toys and cool jet toys hung on the wall with their point values stamped on them. The vermin looked through the glass counter that he had his elbow on and examined the little toys and sweet candies that barely cost any points whatsoever. While tapping his fingers along the glass counter, the vermin looked off and spotted a sign far off to the left saying,

**Video Surveillances 24/7 in All Areas**

Eileen adjusted her glasses as she saw a little ring bell near her. She reached over and clapped the bell.

**DING**

They waited for a bit, and waited… and waited even longer. The two stared at the side door, waiting for someone to just open and walk through it. But no… they waited… and waited… until Rigby's temper rose again. He went over to the bell, grabbed hold of it, walked to where the door was located at, and then began hitting the bell repeatedly while yelling,

"OOOOOOOOOHHH!" **DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DIN-**

Eileen ran over and tried to calm down the vermin; putting her arms and hands to disrupt Rigby's actions. They sort of pushed each other until- **BAM!**

The dorr jolted open as the both of them stopped their bickering when they looked up to see a man who looked like… some sort of douche. A douche that seemed to jogger Rigby's memories as seeing the same douche before. The one who drove that hot, red corvette, with that Blond chick. The same douche that made fun of their broken window shield and then that quick fight that made Rigby's body shiver up after. The scene where Mordecai punched the douche straight in the nose and how the douche was busted up against his own car, left there… groaning and moaning... made Rigby's eyes widen from horror. The vermin looked closely at the douche's chin… the same markings were still there from when Rigby bit onto the douche's chin. With a step back, the raccoon his behind Eileen; who eyed him suspiciously. The douche was wearing the appropriate associate attire and had a slouched body.

"Can I help you two… wait… who's behind you?"

The douche quickly moved around as he saw the little vermin that gave him hell before. He obviously hadn't forgotten.

"IT'S YOU! SO HELP ME GOD-"

The douche stopped in his tracks and just stood there. He sighed while he looked far off to see a manager walking by. On that note, the douche controlled his anger and fixed himself up while giving Rigby the 'You're going to die' glare. Eileen, unsure of what was really going on, watched as Rigby smirked and puffed his chest out as if he also owned the douche.

"HA LOSER! You can't touch me here! Pssh!"

The vermin laughed it off as it only made the douche more pissed off. Rigby then walked forward and examined the douche's name tag.

"Well… Mark, me and my friend just want to get some prizes from up… here…"

Rigby looked up and saw one thing that really caught his eyes. No, it wasn't the clappers or some lame toy… it was… a disco ball; a glorious disco ball which was the size of Rigby's head. It sparkled and reflected the neon lights around it as Rigby's pupils seemed to form into the shape of the disco ball.

"Oh my… how many points does it cost to get that?"

The vermin pointed up as Mark looked to where he was pointing at.

"Oh that? That's costs an asshole and a fist right at your gut."

"I'm serious dude."

Rigby and Mark just glared at each other before Mark broke it up while rubbing his chin.

"Pssh, it's about 1220 points."

Rigby dropped his jaw like someone dropping an anchor into the sea. Eileen shrugged as she pointed towards the clappers in the far right.

"Rigby, you know you can always get those… clappers…"

Eileen noticed Rigby's pleading eyes as they seemed to mesmerize the nerdy girl. Rigby was on his knees in a pleading position. Eileen looked at him all weird at first until she got where Rigby was coming from.

"Wait, you want me and you to put our points together so that you can get that disco ball, right?"

"Hmm hmm! PLEASE EILEEN! PLEASE!"

Eileen shrugged as she has never seen her 'man' plead like this before. It was so cute and adorable and… priceless. She handed over her card to Rigby as he began doing his victory dance while handing the two cards over to Mark; who was giving a 'WTF' expression. After putting the card's points together in a computer program, Mark rolled his eyes and gave off the same nasty look as before.

"Whatever. Come with me to the back so I can hand you guys your stupid ball."

He pushed open the door as the two short ones followed behind. Florescent lights showed off the storage rooms; which were small, cramp and full of the same toys and boxes. Rigby looked to his right and saw a small office room where it showed all the areas of where surveliance was taken place. There were also pictures hung on the wall of Mark's past. One of the pictures caught Rigby's attention as he saw a familiar figure… a familiar green figure. The picture showed Muscleman and Mark hanging in the hallways of some school. Rigby turned his nose and asked,

"Hey Mark. Do you know a guy named Muscleman?"

Mark stopped in his tracks and looked over.

"Pssh, haven't heard that name in years. Haven't talked to him in ages. But all I know is that he works in a park with some other people… Why? How you know him? You work there with him?"

Rigby held up his hands and closed his eyes as he didn't respond back. Mark eyed him suspiciously whilst he grabbed a box off the shelf and handed it over. Rigby grabbed it quickly and snickered to himself before grabbing Eileen with him and jolted out of the storage room; leaving Mark to his memories and office full of video surveilance.

* * *

><p>A couple minutes went by as Rigby and Eileen sat at a convenient table; eating some French fries. More people came by after awhile as crowds began to swarm the games. With the neon lights flashing and music blaring in the background, Rigby kept rubbing the box of the disco ball and hugged it tightly while Eileen kept eating the fries.<p>

"You are so weird, Rigby. But I like that about you."

She giggled a little while Rigby stick his tongue out at her teasingly.

"I'm not weird, I'm just me!"

He snickered while grabbing a hand full of fries from the basket and shoving it in his face. Eileen's giggle stopped as she witnessed the fries smashing out of Rigby's mouth while he smiled back at her. It was… unpleasant, so to say. She grabbed some napkins and handed it over to the confused raccoon.

"And being you means dealing with the fact that you have no manners. Wipe your face off."

After a quick swallow, Rigby snatched another hand-full of fries and held it up in front of her.

"Aw, you don't like me when I'm disgusting? Here, let me 'fix' that for you, girlfriend!"

As annoying yet tease-full as he wanted to be, Rigby stuffed his face again with the fries and rubbed his cheeks in a silly way. Eileen waved her arms against him in defense as she tried keeping the vermin from kissing her with his greasy lips. Rigby knew he was just teasing her though and before she knew, Rigby gave a quick peck on her cheek and backed away. With that notion, Eileen, pushed him back cried out,

"EWW! Rigby! That's Disgusting!"

Rigby again swallowed the mass of potatoes and, trying to keep Eileen from slapping him, wiped his mouth clean with the napkins. But he couldn't help from the mole's reaction as he laughed his face off.

"Aw Man, you should have seen your… face…"

The raccoon stared at Eileen who froze still, as if she just got done watching a horror film.

"… Eileen? …"

Rigby wasn't confused for long as he cocked his head in the direction of where Eileen was facing at as his eyes dilated. Utter less as can be, he bit his bottom lip as a familiar being, who stood some feet away, was shaking furiously. Completely confused, shocked, and broken, the being… the parrot… Jeremy… was glaring harshly at the raccoon while keeping an upright appearance for Eileen. Nevertheless, tears became running down his face before he swiped them away quickly.

_Wait... They're… together?_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Alrighty guys, as you may have notice, the writing style has changed in this chapter. And beleive me I've noticed. This is only because of the many stressfull things that have happened to me since the last time I updated a chapter, and beleive me, this was not my best chapter : If you like to know how I've been doing and what has been going on with me, please continue to read this. If you don't care... then I guess don't read this :3**_

_**So, since the last chapter, I was still living in Georgia when I finally got three job interviews at once! In a Kroger, a Publix, and at a park! ^^ I was so happy and releived when I got the job at at Kroger. But the day after, my dad got pissed at me over coffee accidently spilling on his girlfriend (who is in fact a gold digger) and pretty much told me that I couldn't live at the house anymore. So with nowhere else to go in Georgia, I had to forfeit my job oppuritunities, which took me four freaking months to find, and moved to Texas to live with my mom and her husband. I emotionally was devasted to leave my othe family behind that I cried for days. But I got a phone, remained in contact, and found a job at a local Walmart; where I am happy to work at as a cashier. ^^ But it's been awhile since I've written so I'm am trying to gain my momentum back again, yet I am struggling with being creative with my words. Seriously do not hate me yet, I will start a new chapter without stopping half way in it, move to another state, and completely change my lifestyle before writing the other half of the chapter. Again, I am not fully satisfied with this chapter, but this was the 'boring' plot of the whole story. So the next parts are supposed to get better, since I'll be refreshed and ready to write creatively again :) (And I think I rushed this chapter since the moving and depression really got to me :/)**_

_**Also, there's that new character 'Thomas' who has been put into the cast of the show! WTF! What do you guys thinks what I should do? Add him into the story or forget about him? I can add him in with a good excuse but I need your opinions!**_

_**Also, there are MANY stories from others I need to read but I am SORRY for those who are disappointed with this chapter :( Please don't give up on me yet 333**_

_**But remember I have a Furaffinity account if you are interested on seeing it (must be 18 to view since it's sadistic and sick/weird :3) Thank You again, I will continue, Regular show isn't mine, and PLEASE COMMENT! :3**_

_**Also, 'no' to the idea of a crossover with Regular show and Cooper thing. Sorry SLY123 :/ 33 But I will be doing a story where Perry the Platypus goes on an ACTION PACKED adventure :3**_

_**Also, the part in this story about Benson talking about 'his boss', it's that boss character that apparently can't have his name in here because of the actual spelling. Look up 'Regular Show Benson's boss' and you will see who I'm talking about. Thank you Windows :/**_


	12. Chapter 12: Complication

Chapter 12

…

Game noises played in the distant space as a trace of nervous sweat slowly slid down the raccoon's frozen head. With a quick wipe and readjusting eyes, Rigby pushed himself away from Eileen and rid his face of the french fried bits. Seeing the parrot just... standing... shaking... yet still as a pole...

An awkward presence seemed to stir up in between of all three of them as they kept glancing left and right; confused on what to say or how to react. Jeremy felt his legs shaking and his throat as dry as a desert. What to do? What to say? Thoughts scrambled in his mind at how furious and disheartened he felt as he stared right at the backstabber's eyes. His plans before was that he wanted to impress and get to know Eileen better; to let himself be known and hopefully finding a relationship between each other. But now...

_Rigby... how could you? I... I... I thought I could trust him. But... Is this the way you want to play me? Fine! She's going to like me more!_

The bird just gave a disappointed expression as he walked up and sat right down near Rigby; purposely glaring at the vermin with his eyes growing with a hidden and yet burning rage; and for a shy parrot, this was very unusual of him to act this way. He remained silent as Rigby gave an awkward grin whilst his left eye twitched. Automatic panic ran through his thought's voice as he tapped the table with his shaking fingers.

_Oh shit! I'm gonna get my ass handed by him! What to say, what to do? Should I just tell him that this is all a misunderstanding? No wait! Then he would know that I'm not dating her! Then he would let Mordecai know! Then I'd be caught having to explain why we broke up in some sort of lie! And then literally it would show I'm bad with relationships in front of my true love! And then... OH MY GOD! How was I so STUPID to try and let these two get together in the FIRST place! Now... since in the end it will RUIN me? Shit, shit, shit! Wait! _

An idea crept into the vermin's mind as he grinned... a horrible, awful grin.

_Why don't she pretend to break up with me instead? Then it would make her look bad and she can get with him and I can get with Mordecai and... OH! THAT'S PERFECT!_

Suddenly, his thought was stopped abruptly as Eileen raised a brow and tapped him to say something in, you know, a simple explanation of that unintentional, and non-romantic, kiss.

"Rigby, aren't you going to explain that..."

Thinking quick on his feet, the vermin stiffened up a bit and interrupted her.

"YEAH YEAH! Right, of course, where are my manners? Eileen, this is... Jeremy. Jeremy, Eileen."

Jeremy took the moment to give some sweet eyes toward the mole as he shook her hand. He then put his elbow on the table, in front of Rigby, and smiled at Eileen. The mole smiled back but then cleared her throat.

"Rigby, we already know each other a little."

"Oh! Yeah, HAHAHAHA..."

Rigby pulled off a random and awkward laugh as he pushes Jeremy's elbow away and placed his own in between. Eileen rolled her eyes and hush Rigby by pressing a lip on the vermin's lips. Before she spoke again, Jeremy raised a finger and smiled as if he was acting happy for their 'relationship'.

"So, um, how long have you two been together?"

"Wait, Jeremy, we're not togeth-"

"OH! ME and Eileen have been together for, let's say, two months!"

Eileen broadened her eyes as she dropped her mouth and stared all confused at Rigby; who was smudging a mischievous grin. She immediately grabbed Rigby by the ear, gave a 'one moment' notion to Jeremy, and dragged Rigby about ten feet away from the table. The lights and arcade lights continued to envelop the room, seeming as if the room can give epileptic seizures, as Eileen stared dead on at Rigby; who seemed very confident at the moment.

"Rigby! What are you doing? We're not together! Why in the world are you making this complicated for him and us? Are you trying to tear his heart out? Is that how cruel you are? You wanna hurt him? Why don't you want to explain to him that this was all a misunderstanding?"

Rigby tried calming her down by holding his hands up and dusting himself off.

"Calm down Eileen, hear me out. Let's... just pretend we're dating!"

Eileen stared blankly at the raccoon.

"And why in the world would we do that?"

The raccoon lifted his hands and used them to wave back and forth while explaining what he was thinking.

"Well... you know that Jeremy knows that Mordecai and I are best friends, right? So, if Jeremy knew that me and you weren't dating and he talks about himself dating you in front of Mordecai, then things are gonna get complicated for me. So..."

Eileen immediately clipped his lips shut and fixed her glasses.

"Wait... you haven't thought of this before?"

Letting go of his lips, Eileen waited for a response as Rigby groaned and rubbed his lips.

"No, I haven't! Yeesh! And Can you stop it with the clippin gmy lips? It hurts!"

The raccoon rubbed his lips before talking.

"It just occurred to me that you two can't date each other unless we keep it a secret from Mordecai!"

Eileen rolled her eyes and placed her hands upon each other.

"OR..."

"... or what?"

"You know what I'm talking about..."

"... um no..."

"uh huh! You have to tell Jeremy."

"Tell Jeremy what?"

"You know... your dark secret..."

"... what? Wait... OH NO! NO WAY IN HELL am I telling him!"

"And why not? I thought you were going to tell him the truth and all this nonsense and confusion will be over. Jeremy and I could date and sometime later on you could go and tell Mordecai the truth and see how he feels about you. Then if there's a possibility that you two dated, then me and Jeremy wouldn't have to hide our relationship from anyone. It's like the perfect love idea really."

Rigby looked at her with concern. He gave this idea a quick thought before his fear of his secret being known quickly tore the idea apart in his brain.

_How can I trust him? How do I know when to tell him anyways? And what if he says no? Then everyone would know, I would lose my friend, and... she would end up happy with a man and I would be left... Gosh she's selfish!_

Rigby furrowed his brows, which surprised Eileen (thinking that she would have gotten a better expression from him from what optimistic news she gave). The vermin forcefully pointed at her before cooling himself down and calmly stated,

"Ok... But if I told Jeremy of my secret, then I don't think I can... trust him to not tell Mordecai. And what if Mordecai hates me for being honest to him...I don't think I could risk our... relationship. And you would be the only one benefiting from this whole mess!"

Rigby looked down at himself and bit his bottom lip whilst Eileen just shook her head, feeling ticked while feeling sympathetic for him.

"Rigby... you know how selfish you sound right now?"

Rigby remained silent; rubbing his head and looking up and down. Eileen sighed and put an arm on his shoulder.

"Rigby... come on... just tell Jeremy, and we can tell him everything that's going on and how he shouldn't tell Mordecai of this. Andwhenever you're ready, you can tell Mordecai how you really feel about him." **sighs** "Rigby... from all the people and beings I know of, I would think that you be the one who would risk anything to get what he wants. You're attitude, you're personality... you remind me that in life... we really have to take risks to get what we want. And... that's one of the reasons why I... love you..."

She stops herself before looking away from the raccoon as she wiped a single tear from her face. She looked back and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Rigby, You are... you are making this more complicated than it needs to be. Come on Rigby... do it for me... please?"

She smiled and came into eye contact with the vermin; who was really bothered by this. No matter how annoying she could get to him, Rigby always hated seeing Eileen cry. He gulped to himself, straightened himself up, groaned loudly, and then pouted.

"Psssh, I'll think about it..."

"Huh?"

Rigby looked away; not in any pissed way or anything, but just... worried. Eileen, grabbing Rigby's arm, lead herself and the vermin back to the table to where Jeremy was getting a water from a very tall waiter. As the waiter walked away, the parrot fixed his glasses, noticed Rigby's worrisome face, and thought,

_Oh! Did they? They must have broken up or something! Or... were they talking about something else?_

"So... um... two months huh? That's a... that's great to hear for ya..."

"Jeremy-"

"YEAH?"

Jeremy smiled brightly at Eileen as she was adjusting to the parrot's immediate change in tone; as if he was waiting to hear 'good' news.

"Um... Rigby and I were never dating..."

Jeremy blinked out of it and scratched his head; confused completely of what she said.

"Wait... what? You guys weren't dating?"

Eileen sighed and pushed Rigby's shoulder gently.

"Come on Rigby, tell him."

The vermin sat there... thinking... scared as to what could happen...

_I__f Eileen can't keep __hold of__ a __s__e__c__ret like she promised back from __our__ 'date', then how can Jeremy keep a __secret __from telling Mordecai? It's like... __I__ fe__el__ as if no one can keep a secret. Why should anyone else know then? __Why should __I__ trust anyone anyways if they are willing to spread __My__ secret out?_

_No... I shouldn't... and if I can trust Eileen, then she wouldn't tell without my consent..._

Rigby snorted and pouted some more. Eilleen, rolling her eyes, pushed him a bit harder, making the vermin whine a bit.

"OW! I don't wanna tell him anything."

"WHAT? You just said you would tell him!"

"NO I DIDN'T!"

Jeremy held up a finger as he saw the other two give cruel stares towards each other.

"Um... guys? This is ridiculous. Can someone tell me what's really going on?"

Rigby took his focus off of Eileen's and calmly stated,

"Jeremy, all you need to know for now is that me and Eileen have dated for a while... and we've been on and off... I told you that you had a shot with her but... I think I'm falling in love again."

Rigby grinned as he acted all into Eileen, who pushed him back with rage in her heart.

"RIGBY! REALLY? NOW YOU WANT TO BE WITH ME? Ok, FINE! I'LL TELL HIM WHAT'S GOING ON! Jeremy, guess what?"

"WHAT? WHAT? What is it? Why are we all acting STRANGE today? WHY IS EVERYTHING NOT MAKING SENSE TO ME?"

"Jeremy... Rigby's G-"

On that moment, and by immediate instinct, Rigby clasped hold of Eileen's mouth and held it hard.

"NO! DON'T TELL HIM! YOU PROMISED, REMEMBER?"

From the bird's perspective, it appeared as if Rigby was gonna attack Eileen's face. So as any gentleman would do, Jeremy, who was surprised, confused, threatened, or/and utterly shocked, stood from his seat and held Rigby's shoulder's hard and held on to him tightly.

"CALM DOWM RIGBY! LET GO!"

Rigby turned his head and held off her; but feeling the parrot in his own personal bubble made him feel uncomfortable. So without warning, Rigby turned around and pushed Jeremy's grasp off himself. From this, the two man fell off their tall seats and ended with a-

**THUD! **

Eileen, and some nearby people, looked over and saw the chairs laying about and the two dudes getting up and facing each other after the fall. Angry and confused, Jeremy pushed Rigby back and pointed at his nose.

"WHY DID YOU THAT? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?"

Rigby held his fists tightly and felt his eyes weigh more. He felt silent and confused, whether on what to do or not to do. A small crowd formed around the two as the raccoon just focused on all the eyes locking onto him. He felt... scared and furious of trying to avoid the inevitable. His voice shook and quivered as his body heated up.

"I... I... You were in my space Jeremy... And I was trying to keep her from saying that I'm... I... I'm Sorry... I need some space... You Know What, Eileen?"

He turned around gave a nasty glare at her.

"Just... GO AHEAD! TELL EVERYONE! THANKS FOR KEEPING A PROMISE, BITCH! IT'S ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT YOU! YOU'RE SO SELFISH!"

Eileen first was frightened but became pissed off at the raccoon and welled up her fists. She got down from her high seat, walked over to the raccoon (while Jeremy gave her some space) and pointed directly as Rigby's face.

"REALLY? ALL ABOUT ME? NO! YOU'LL THE SELFISH ONE! I CAN'T BELEIVE YOU JUST WON'T TELL HIM! WHY DO YOU MAKE THINGS SO COMPLICATED? I CAN'T BELEIVE I FELL IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE LIKE YOU! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO KEEP YOUR MIND STRAIGHT!"

A very disurbed environment settled as mostly everyone noticed Eileen's yelling. Their eyes turned to the nervous and emotional raccoon as Rigby felt the heat rise from everyone looking at him. He imagined everyone in their... laughing at his faults... anticipating the worse... Sweat glimmered down all over his furry body as Rigby took a step back from Eileen; who also also stepped back as she felt bad for what she said. Eileen's mouth quivered as she tried taking back what she said.

"Rigby I... I didn't mean straight in tha-"

"Straight huh?... Eileen, I know I can't keep my mind straight. I'm a hopeless and confused cause? … thanks for reminding me."

Before Eileen could say anything else, the raccoon glared harshly at Eileen before he twisted his tail, felt his eyes quiver, and began running, past the parrot, past the crowd and towards the restroom entrances. Seconds of awkward silence past as the crowd of people went away, back to playing the games and such. Some associates walked by to make sure of everything was alright before going back to their own duties. The parrot, after setting the chairs back up, looked to Eileen and shrugged with a worried and yet confused face.

"Are you alright?"

Eileen nodded her head before walking back to the seat and sitting on the tall chair again. Jeremy walked near her and sat beside her as if trying to comfort her.

"Eileen, if you don't mind me asking... What's wrong with him? I... Is there something I'm missing here? Are... Are you guys dating or not?"

Eileen looked down and thought about what the vermin told her; and of how she promised not to tell anyone of what was going on. She felt guilty and sad as tears slowly came from her eyes.

… _I'm... I'm sorry Rigby... why does he make things difficult? For himself... and for me? _

Eileen sighed, wiped the tears away from her eyes, and looked straight at Jeremy with a mundane face.

"Jeremy, Rigby and I are not dating... the kiss you just saw wasn't tensional. It was more like a joke."

"So... you guys were just playing around? Then... what's the big deal with Rigby and you? Why is he acting up like this?"

Eileen sighed and pointed towards the bathroom while looking through a menu on the table.

"I can't tell you Jeremy... Sorry, but... you will have to go and talk to Rigby about it yourself."

Jeremy fixed himself up and lowered his shoulders. He scratched his head while he pointed with his thumb towards the bathroom.

"And why can't you just tell me what's up with him?"

"Just... because I intend on keeping a promise... no matter how annoying he can get."

Jeremy just nodded his head slowly, as he studied how troubled Eileen looked. But... he felt something was off like... this was too over-the-top. Like as if they were... acting, or something...

_Is this all a joke? I'm so confused..._

With that conclusion, Jeremy hopped off his chair, and walked toward the bathrooms; leaving Eileen alone with a killer headache and the disco ball box she got for Rigby.

* * *

><p>Mordecai held his cup full of ice as he pushed it towards one of the black sticks that stuck out of the soda machine. Coke flowed down from the hole and continued to fill the cup of ice while the bird sighed to himself. Mordecai held the cup away from the black stick and shook his cup to get rid of some of the bubbles that kept sprouting from the top of the brownblack liquid. After grabbing a straw near the soda machine, the bird walked across the faint lighted restaurant and sat next to Margaret, who was typing away on her phone still. She's been doing this for the past eight minutes practically, and Mordecai was completely surprised yet bored at the same time.

Fixing himself up and looking at his coke and the remains of paper towels and crumbs from their sandwiches that they made together, the blue bird scratched his head and slurp some of his drink. With the T.V off and the noises from the phone being the only sound in the vacant space, the resturant just felt awkward and boring for the blue jay. Here he is... sitting by the girl of his dreams and yet... he's bored. Mordecai, whilst trying to ignore the thought of being bored, looked to his left and saw how serious Margaret looked towards her phone; the beeping and flashing lights were easily visible just by looking at the red jay's orbitals. Her eyes... her dark, deep pupils dilate and dashed left and right as she typed along with her touch-screen phone. With a simple cough and clearing of throat, Mordecai laid himself closer to Margaret and tilted his head at the phone at hand.

"So... what you typing?"

He waited for a casual response... and waited... looked back up at Margaret and saw how determined she was to typing the message she was previously on.

"Margaret? … Hello?"

Mordecai gave her some space as he just gazed at how pretty she was... even if she was too focused onto her phone, she had the looks. He shrugged to himself, lowered his beak, and drank some of his coke. After sipping, Mordecai looked up to see Margaret lifting her phone and hitting the last button to send a text message.

"And... DONE! Ok, what were you saying Mordecai?"

"Um a... uh nothing really, you were so-"

"So what?"

"So..."

_so__ stuck up on the phone_ _that_…

"... beautiful when you are using your phone."

"Oh you silly. Yeah, I've been talking to my parents and friends and catching up on Notebook."

She smiled and giggled as her phone vibrated once again... and again, and again, and again. She held up her finger and immeadiatly went back to typing on her phone again. Mordecai just stared in awe at first before he turned his head and stared at his cup of coke again. He looked at his straw, and stared intently at it; and then an idea popped into his head. With a big smile, Mordecai put his beak lips on top of the straw and blew into it slowly. Small bubbles began to form from the force of the air blowing from the manly bird. And then they began popping at the top of the liquid; making small explosions that made the blue bird smile. Mordecai looked up and saw a hint of Margaret being distracted from his teasing action. Yet, Margaret went back to her phone and paid no mind to him. Mordecai rubbed his chin and then again blew more into the straw. The small bubbles again popped, from their repetitive and inevitable nature, as the sounds distracted Margaret even more. She stopped, looked up, furrowed her eyebrows. Mordecai stopped before she could look over to her right. An awkward moment passed before she went back to typing on her phone. Mordecai snickered to himself, knowing that he was only teasing Margaret for fun, and blew into the straw once again. The bubbles popped even louder as Mordecai rushed his blowing even harder; making the red bird feel irritated as she messed up on her spelling. She spazzed around and uncontrollably shouted,

"MORDEC-"

Margaret, realizing that she was yelling at Mordecai, stopped immeadiatly in the middle of her boyfriend's name and calmed her attitude down to a peaceful tone.

"...cai? Can you... stop with the blowing please? You're messing me up. I don't know if my friends are gonna come or not..."

Mordecai slowly dropped his jaw as he watched Margaret smile, in a fake way, before turning back to her phone. She was so... INTO that phone. Like this was a side of her that he has never really noticed till now.

_My god... she's never gonna get off that phone now, will she? Ugh..._

Mordecai just sat there, feeling obligated to not move nor talk and to just... wait. He took the time to roll his neck for about thirty seconds, fiddled his thumbs, whistle a short tune, got up and got more coke, rolled his neck again, lowered his chin on the table and then closed his eyes. He just stayed like that for a moment; letting his mind relax and allowing himself to unwind while he waited for his girlfriend to get done. Thoughts came a-bustling through his self conscious as Mordecai allowed himself to keep pondering with himself. And these thoughts were images of Rigby... everything about him... his smile, his laugh, his charm, his yelling, his pride, his stance, the way he talked, his lame punches, his … personality. Just the thought of his raccoon friend just made Mordecai feel all... peaceful and calm.

_Oh Rigby... I wish you were here with me... _

* * *

><p>"Hey... Rigby? You here?"<p>

With a small shove to the door, Jeremy peered inside the man's restroom to see a very bright and pale room of urinals and black stalls. The black and white tiled floor only made the place more ugly as the parrot stepped into the room and stared at what was in front of him. There he was... the raccoon... sniffling and crying while staring down at one of the sinks. The mirror that was in front of him reflected the face of the raccoon; all wrinkled and red as the raccoon kept his hands on his eyes. Jeremy could see his reflection from afar as the florescent lights from above made their appearances look more dreadful.

Jeremy stood a couple of feet away from the raccoon as he waited for Rigby to at least hold up on his crying. Yet, more awkward minutes passed before the raccoon decided to let up. The vermin looked up at the mirror and stared at Jeremy with his teary and red eyes. Instead of being angry (which Jeremy would have most expected from Rigby), the raccoon instead had more of a... sorrowful look plastered on his face. He sniffled some more before speaking towards the mirror while keeping his eyes on the reflection of the parrot.

"... So... she told you didn't she? That I'm a mess..."

Jeremy, already concerned for his sake, tilted his head more to the right to get a better angle of the sad vermin's face on the mirror.

"No... I don't think your a mess, nor does she... you're just... really emotional about something..."

"About something? … She didn't tell you yet?"

"Um... no, I guess... Rigby, what's the big deal? Why are you so... you know..."

Rigby looked down at the sink, sniffed, and rubbed his eyes again.

_She didn't tell him yet? Whoa... I guess she isn't that selfish... I can trust her... I mus have been a douche out there... but..._

"Um... well... Jeremy... I don't think I can trust you..."

"Trust me? Trust me with what?"

"Well... with a... with a secret..."

Jeremy felt as if he needed to make the raccoon feel better. Of course wasn't sure of how to act to all of this, so by just simply 'going along with it', he walked closer to Rigby and laid a feathered hand on the back of the raccoon's shoulder. Rigby could feel the feathers on him brush against his fur as if... it was Mordecai right near him. The image of the blue bird was blooming into the raccoon's memories... everything about hi... and especially his smile.

_Hey Rigby, you can trust me... I'm always there for you... be honest with me..._

The image of Mordecai went away from the vermin's mind as Rigby looked down as he sighed. He felt the feathers from Jeremy; unsure if he wanted to tell Jeremy the truth. He could imagine Jeremy as if he was... Mordecai. Jeremy spoke up from what Rigby said earlier.

"um... with a secret? Rigby, you can trust me, really. Because... well, I'm your friend! Even though we had that little confrontation... earlier... and I thought you were just trying to break my trust... and I wanted to punch you... I mean I... um a... I mean... I wouldn't really want to harm you or tell whatever your secret is... if you tell me or not... I'm not even sure if this has anything to do with me in the first place. But you can trust me still! I swear on William Shakespeare's poems and quotes!"

Jeremy scratched his head, from the embarrassing social skills that he has towards Rigby. He was trying not to say anything that would have made Rigby pissed or angry or... whatever.

Ignoring most of what Jeremy was saying (with the punching and Shakespeare stuff), Rigby looked up and turned around to face the embaressed and confused parrot... eye to eye.

"You... you promise? Not even to Mordecai?"

Jeremy cocked a brow when he heard how Rigby didn't want pacifically Mordecai to know.

"Um... okay... Mordecai won't know of this... so... you can tell me dude. What is it?"

Rigby felt his tears welled up in his eyes as he felt the tension in his body heat up. Still feeling the feathers from Jeremy, the raccoon could imagine if Mordecai was holding him and was saying to him,

_Tell me Rigby... I'm your friend... You can tell me anything... __Risk it... risk... risk..._

The image of Mordecai went away again as Jeremy only stood in front of himself. Rigby felt some courage finally build up in himself as he spoke... the truth... in quiet tone.

"Jeremy... I'm ga-."

"Um, what? I didn't catch that."

"Ugh, Jeremy I'm... gay."

"Um... hehe, what? You said you are grey? Game? Gary?"

"JEREMY, I'm GAY!"

Jeremy's eyes were widened with surprise.

"What? Really? That's it? You're gay? Rigby... hehehe, really?"

"YES really! I'm a homosexual raccoon who's too afraid to talk about his sexuality to anyone, okay?"

Rigby expected the bird to laugh at him or something cruel. But instead the bird just... smiled.

"Rigby... you'll just trying to fool around me, Right?"

"No Jeremy... I'm not fooling around, I'm being honest, dude!"

"Nah uh, that's impossible. A guy like you... really? There's got to be a camera in here. This has got to be some prank."

"You don't believe me?"

"Well, I... you seem like you're telling the truth... and it's really no big deal to me. And I don't know why you really wouldn't want Mordecai to know... and... and... wait a second..."

"What?"

"... you have a crush on me, don't you?"

Rigby felt his eyes twitch as he slapped his head like he needed a V8.

"NO, I DO NOT HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU! I LOVE MORDECAI INSTEAD!"

Jeremy dropped his jaw as he stared blantly into Rigby's eyes.

"... Wow... was not expecting that... ok... so you MUST be joking now... Like, even though there's been theories or rumors that Shakespeare was gay, I don't buy it. But with a being like you, on the other hand, I... I'm not a fool Rigby. You really can't be gay... Is... Is Eileen on this too? Gosh you two are good actors!"

Jeremy snickered as he thought up an imagery of Mordecai and Rigby kissing. Rigby tensed up a bit as he didn't hesitate to grab Jeremy's shoulders hard..

"Jeremy STOP LAUGHING! This isn't funny! Eileen knows about this too and she was trying to tell you before!"

"Oh come on Rigby, there's no way you'll gay. Now that I think about it... you two were REALLY angry at each other over nothing. I know what ya did. You two planned the kiss to get me jealous, walked over to talk about it, and then made me try to follow what was going on between you two. You two just invited me just to fool around me, right? So... after you two broke up, that I would be try HARDER to get to Eileen, which make a good laugh for the both of you right?"

Rigby put on a confused face as to say 'What the fuck?'

"What? Jeremy, are you really this ignorant? I'm telling you my darkest secret and yet you think that this was a way to make you more jealous?"

Jeremy held his eyes up as they grew darker.

"Are you really still playing this gay card with me? I'm no fool Rigby. You two were just using me, right? This was a waste of time! I thought that I could meet someone who doesn't use me, and yet I meet another who uses me. And I thought that Eileen was really hurt, but of course this all a joke!"

"Jeremy... now you'll making no sense."

"Oh yeah? I bet you weren't bullied or humiliated like me back then. Do you know what it's like to be used? Do you? Actually, nevermind. I'm just gonna go and tell Mordecai of this and how much of a douche you are to me. And if this is the way Eileen treats others, playing along in your stupid games, then I'm done with her to."

With a scoff and polishing of himself, the parrot tried to be bold as he stepped hid way towards the door; with his tail feathers swinging left and right. Rigby marched over to the bird and grabbed his shoulder and an corrupt raccoon claws of his.

"JEREMY WAIT! YOU ARE ACTING RIDICULOUS NOW! DON'T YOU DARE TELL MORDECAI OF THIS!"

Jeremy stopped, turned around, and pushed off Rigby's hand.

"You know what? Prove it!"

"Prove... what? That I'm gay?"

"Yeah, that's right! I'll only believe it if you, and only you, can prove that your gay. You don't seem that open about it, and there's no way that your personlity can be compared to a stereotypical gay person, so I bet that you can't show, tell, express, or even feel like a gay person."

"Really?"

"Yeah... anything."

"Ok... so if I do prove it, would you shut up about telling Mordecai, believe Eileen and I, and understand that we were never trying to diss you and that this was ALL a POINTLESS misunderstanding?"

"Yep!"

Rigby took a moment to breath in and out as he thought of many ways that he could prove that he was gay.

_I could wave my hand to this clueless parrot... shake my hips?... could smile like one? … nah... um... actually... I really don't act like a gay stereotype in the first place... huh weird... well... Maybe... _

"Okay Jeremy, watch this! I'll Prove It!"

Rigby began waving his hand like an extremely gay man would as he flexed his hips left and right. Jeremy just watched as he couldn't help but snicker a bit.

"So... at least I would know what type of gay man you would be... on 'bottom' for starters."

Rigby punched hard onto Jeremy's arm as it barely did any impact tot the snickering parrot.

"Come on Rigby, you can do better than that."

"COME ON JEREMY! How am I supposed to show that I'm gay?"

"Well... hmm... oh wait... nah..."

"What?"

"Well... you could... nah, that's impossible. You wouldn't be able to and it just lets me know that you were never gay."

"WHAT? WHAT IS IT? I CAN PROVE IT!"

"Well... you'll not gonna like it..."

"For the last time Jeremy, WHAT IS IT?"

Jeremy took a moment to fix himself up and give an uncertain smile. Rigby stood there all confused as he was trying to contemplate all that eh could do to make Jeremy tell Mordecai of this situation. The parrot cleared his throat before speaking.

"Um... you could kiss me... NOT IN A ROMANTIC WAY OF COURSE... but... just to prove you have the actual guts to kiss a man."

With his whole body twitching, Rigby felt stiff and disturbed... yet... no, he was disturbed.

"Wait? Really?"

"I... I guess so. If there's no other way... "

The parrot give googly eyes towards the raccoon as he snickered even more.

"See? You are so not interested in guys. Ok, I'm going to tell Morde-"

**Peck***

Surprised that their lips were intact, the parrot quickly looked down as he saw that the raccoon had done the impossible... With their lips intact, the raccoon, with his eyes closed, moved his lips around the beak of the parrot as they just... gave a quick kiss and then slowly moved apart. Rigby opened his eyes to see a surprised and stupefied parrot; with his glasses at a crooked angle. The raccoon nervously laughed and took a whole bunch of steps back towards the sink.

"I... I... You told me to do that! So... yeah! There we go! I'm gay and you know it! There's you proof!"

Jeremy, as still and straight as he was, felt his beak and rubbed it softly before holding his head up.

"Um... a... so... I guess... you proved your case. Fine... um... a... let me let this settle into me... I'm really surprised actually... that you kissed me..."

"Well YEAH! YOU WERE GOING TO TELL MORDECAI! WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?"

"I'm... I'm sorry Rigby... I'm just... really surprised that you were this bold about your sexuality. I'm sorry that I thought you were using me and all... oh, don't tell Eileen what I said about her! I... thought you two were just-"

Rigby held his hand up as he walked over to Jeremy; while keeping his space.

"Dude, just... don't tell Mordecai of this... Don't tell NO ONE of this!"

"And... why not? Why did you go tot he extremes on making me feel bad and Eileen?"

Rigby looked down and took steps back to lay on the sink's marble stand.

"Because... well... you know I'm just not ready to let people know about the real me. I mean... I don't understand why I hold back on my feelings. I thought that if I was dating Eileen, that you would never know that I was gay and that there would be no chance of you slipping my secret out. Then I wanted to act like she broke up with me or I would dump her and... you would get Eileen and Mordecai would understand and... I don't know Jeremy... I'm a hopeless wreck."

A tear streamed down from his eye as he quickly rubbed it away and held his upper lip. Jeremy shook his head and placed and wrapped his wing around Rigby.

"Rigby... I... You know that I'm not good at speaking, but... I forgive you... and I'm not mad. I'm sorry I pushed you and all... and I generally understand why you wouldn't want me to know this... I guess... do I talk a lot?"

Rigby looked up and gave a 'Really?' expression.

"No Jeremy... not at all."

"Oh! Good! Where was I? Ah, yes! Rigby, I wish you were more open about your sexuality instead of just hiding in a bathroom."

"You mean closet?"

"Well..."

Jeremy took a quick look around the restroom that they were in; with it's faint lighted atmosphere, the cool air conditioning, the stall that is closed to hides it's filthy contents within, and the soft piano music playing in the background.

"Yeah that too! But, Rigby... you should be yourself and take risks! Living a life of loneliness or heavy wishing isn't... you know, great! Rigby... I wish you were more like... yourself."

"But... I know that... the usual idea of taking risks is like what a Disney writer would write. I don't know if being risky and setting my heart on the line for Mordecai will be... easy?"

"Well, you just kissed me bluntly. I think maybe kissing Mordecai or at least letting him know how you truly feel is a great thing!"

Jeremy prepared himself to give a Shakespeare quote to the raccoon, who was already getting the point from the repetitive parrot.

"This above all; to thine own self be true."

The raccoon rubbed his chin, not fully understanding the 'thine' word, but he smiled up to the parrot as he appreciated the parrot not being hateful about the gay matter at hand. The tears stopped rolling down the raccoon's face.

"Thanks, Jeremy. I... thought you were going to laugh at me and... again, thanks for understanding dude."

"Well, I thought the imagery of you two kissing would have been hilari- I mean interesting."

"Jeremy, come on dude. I'm the best kisser out there! And now you know it! OOOOOOOHHHH DISS in your FACE!"

Rigby laughed as he turned on the sink and splashed water on his face to help clean his fur. Jeremy shrugged but pointed at Rigby from behind.

"No one should know that this happened, alright? Hug?"

The parrot held his arms out as if he was gonna maul the raccoon. After washing his face and quickly drying it with the nearest paper towel roll, Rigby rolled his eyes, smiled to himself before he gave a quick hug to the parrot.

"So, you better not tell anyone of my secret and I won't tell how you got kissed by me, okay? Promise?"

"Sure Rigby! Pinkie Swear?"

After readjusting his glasses, Jeremy held his pinkie out and waved it in the air. Rigby smiled and held his pinkie out to shake it.

"Come on, let's go tell Eileen what just happened... I feel like a complete dou-"

**BEEP BEEP**

Rigby stopped and looked down to realize the phone connected to his side. Jeremy watched as the coon lifted the phone and slapped it up to show a message received.

"What does it say? … And also, where do you keep your phone a-"

"Eileen says to meet her at Dilly's Donut Shop that's across the street. And she gave me this entire message of her being sorry."

Without answering Jeremy's second question, Rigby sent back a simple message saying, "K", and sent it. With a slap shut of his phone, Rigby put it away and pushed the door right open; with Jeremy shrugging to himself and following along the trail of the gay raccoon.

_Wow... the first actual kiss I make... and it was with a dude... a__n__ 'in the closet' one too..._

* * *

><p>With another drink in hand, Mordecai sighed as he walked his way beck to table; filled with other empty cups that he wasted on with the different sodas and coffees. He sat down and looked to his left once again to see Margaret typing away on her phone.<p>

_God, how much power does her phone have?_

He drank some of his drink as he grew even more with boredom. He twirled his cup, sighed, looked over at Margaret, rolled his eyes, and got up.

"Margaret, I'm gonna get myself some coffee beans in the back."

"Alrighty, cool. And... I don't think that were gonna see my friends today."

Mordecai looked back as he was surprised that today's plans seemed to have been canceled and also the fact that Margaret was finally speaking to him.

"Really? Why?"

"They said that they couldn't make it because something happened. But they didn't tell me."

Mordecai rubbed his chin as some of his feathers split.

"Who are they anyways? I never got the chance to know."

"Oh! Yeah, I never told you their names, did I? Well, their names are Grandee and Alicia."

"... Grandee and Alicia?"

"Yeah. They said that they would see me later, but not today."

Mordecai felt like dropping his jaw as he remembered the two girls back at the CHOM club; both pretty and both in love with each other. But to keep his appearance as calm as possible, Mordecai just smiled and shrugged to himself.

"Okay, that's fine. They seem like pretty awesome girls. But I wonder what got to them today."

"Well, I'm trying to figure that ou-"

**BEEP BEEP**

"Hold on, I got another message."

Mordecai rolled his eyes as he just stepped out of the room into the back storage area.

_Yep, this is the type of date I wanted to go on... uh..._

The avian eventually got to the storage closet in the far back as he grabbed some black coffee package. He went over to a small black and gray coffee maker and started making coffee; by adding water and pouring the coffee beans and such. He sighed as he heard the coffee begin to grind as he laid on his back against the cabinets and closed his eyes.

_Uh... this was such a horrible time with her... gosh... What a waste of time... and I feel like a water balloon..._

He groaned to himself as he covered his eyes with his feathered hands. He felt so tired and weak as his feelings for Margaret... was slowly diminishing. He didn't know if this was ever possible but... he just didn't feel as close as he wanted to be with her now.

_All I want to be with is... her? Or... is it... is it him?_

_**Vibrate... vibrate**_

Mordecai opened his eyes as he felt his phone on his side vibrate from a call. With a quick notion, Mordecai flipped his phone up and read who was calling him.

"... Fives?"

He hesitated at first, questioning what in the world he wanted, but shrugged and raised the phone to his plumage-covered head.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mordceai! Are you busy?"

"Well... sort of... well... maybe..."

"I need to talk to you as soon as possible. It's... very important."

"Ok... I'm not busy, just tell me..."

There was a pause as the ghost seemed to be moving from somewhere before reaching back onto the phone. Mordecai could hear the quivering voice of the ghost as it spoke up.

"Well... please don't be mad at me... but... Mordecai... Are you...

… bi?"

* * *

><p><strong>Alrighty, this is a short chapter sadly. It's due to a fact that... I'm gay XD NO jk jk XD But it's due to that I have this writer's block and I'm not completely sure where to go in this. Like, I know the climax of the story, but... getting there is difficult XD I had many days, weeks to think of this, and with 8 hours of work every day and the 12 hours shifts in the Christmas season, it's been hard to focus on this. PLUS I have a furaffinity account to attend to and... frankly... this is the most difficult thing I do on the internet. If you guys re-read my first chapter, I wrote that with great amounts of difficulty and I wasn't expecting so much difficulty in it. But I slowly and gradually improved my writing, even though writing is my worst subject (and I barely read), I guess I wanted to get better was for you guys :3 And I really take that into consideration. It's just... gosh drawing is WAY easier than writing. I really want this story to go far, but I might need help or inspiration! If you have any advice or anything, let me know. I believe I might let the next chapter be about Rigby and Mordecai describing when they met each other, and or why really Margaret REALLY hates Rigby? Or maybe not? What do ya think? Oh, I am going to add Thomas in this, it's just gonna be awhile.<strong>

**So, I hit a wall, I'm sorry. Drawing is so easy. Check out my Furaffinity page known as Gruine ;3 It has porn though... yeah...**

**Thanks to 'ThatLazyKid' who told me about the LibreOffice :D THANK YOU! Kiss it Office XD**

**And Thank You all you fans out there who made this the #1 Followed M Rated Regular Show Story :D **

**Please Follow me if you haven't! I am going to make a Title picture to take place of the picture for this story! It will be colored too and look all romantic and all :3 I want to continue this, but... I had an idea of and if another author would write a chapter and I wrote one myself afterwards. I don't know, maybe not. But I have two accounts to watch over, and this is the least watched one sadly :( But with all the support, I want... I NEED to continue this, even though I have College beginning on January 14. Will I have time for this anymore? I believe I might want to! But... I might not... and I don't want this story to die off... so...**

**Please be patient once again, or help suggest something to me. Or heck, even help type the story with my permission XP I don't want this to die... but time is not on my side at this age of mine. 33**

**Regular Show does not belong to Me, but Belongs to J.G Quintal! and Cartoon Network ;) **


	13. SECOND UPDATE (COULD CONT) (9212013)

(9/28/2013)

Ok I've read the story and I thought about it for a while... Yall... it's good as it is and I do not feel comfortable Continuing this story any longer.

I feel more happy with the way it is and I can't finish it out. It's not you guys it's me. So I am sadly putting this story on a close.

I REALLY APPRECIATE ALL THE SUPPORT aND LOVE FOR THIS STORY! If anyone wants to continue this story in their own version on their own account, I be glad to give anxious readers a link to the story if you wanna continue this in your own perspective. But guys I I LOVE you all and thank you for your support.

I been planning on writing a new fresh story for Perry the Platypus (which has been in the making since 2010). I feel like if I want to doing fanfiction again, I need to start fresh and start out with a new idea and concept, which will make me feel good instead of going back to old work, which was Great work, but still.

Again, Thank you all for supporting this story and I feel REALLY sad to give this up, but I may not be able to work on this anymore. I know a lot of you will be mad at me, I would be too. I have to be true to myself and start anew :) Please forgive me all you fellow readers.

**But guys just know this.**

**1. Margaret doesn't deserve Mordecai.**

**2. Eilleen will find someone else (hopefully).**

**3. Morby... FOREVER! 333333**

(9/22/2013)

… My last Update was in the month of May... and I have moved back to Georgia right after that update.

My mom kicked me out (cause she's a crazy bitch) and... yeah now I work in another Walmart and...

Guys, I've noticed that ALOT have reacted to my story and I haven't been on here since July. So... my art computer has recently broken and I just thought about this story. So I came back on here and re-read my story... entirely. At the beginning of this, the chapters were choppy and so many grammar issues are there. But as I read on, I started remembering things that I have forgotten about in this story. Like... wow.

Hmmm... I don't think many are going to read this cause it's been forever but... I am willing to write another chapter to this. My computer is broken and while I don't have any commissions of art to do (except one but I'm waiting till he has the money) I actually have nothing that is forcing me to draw. I'm just waiting for the computer to be repaired. It's gonna cost money so I may be financially in trouble again :/ That's why I been on the art side all this time, for the money (until now). Now I realize that money can be a hold on what I want to do for 'fun' and help me feel better mentally. But it would be COOL if I could get donations on each chapter to help me be able to write while I can pay the bills. Would you guys donate at all? It sounds crazy, but really the comments themselves can make or break my day, so money is just a silly scenario.

I also have to point out that I MAY NOT write another chapter but give it to someone else and this time I HAVE to be confident if I would want to do that, or leave the story at a stand still and not continue.

So with that said, after reading what you guys have given me, here's what I need to do...

1. Finish reading this Story (I'm on Chapter 5)

2. Catch up on the notes people have sent me (since June... yikes)

3. Write a new chapter (if I can or not)

But it really depends if it's even worth continuing this story cause I am not sure if it's worth my time now since I been so busy and I've delayed. But then again... my computer is broken so... eh? I could continue this but I'm going to read the rest of this really fast and then decide if I wanna continue this or not.

What do you guys think? Just comment please don't send me notes :)

MORBY FOREVER!


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